A Different Kind Of Superhero
by anime fearie
Summary: M rating for language. This story takes place post game and mostly revolves around Reeve and his ambition to make Cait an individual 'person'. That person turns out to be a loud obnoxious bad mouthed fury little bastard. Ohoh it has Turks too! Yay
1. Default Chapter

A Different Kind Of Superhero ****

A Different Kind Of Superhero

__

by Anime Fearie

& Sa Makain

Chapter One

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Author's Notes: okay now for the biggest surprise for all of you, this is a PG story with no hints of my usual ummm...relationships. Yes you heard right. This is a non-yaoi. Sorry guys you'll have to deal with it. Alrighty, the idea for this story is not mine. Godamn, never thought I'd have to include disclaimers for other author's ideas lol. Anyway the idea for this came from Sa Makain (did I spell that right?) who is going to be one of the webmasters for "Squarestuff" the site that's going to host all those little FF7 cartoons. Yay! So naturally when I got the idea I totally decided to suck up to Sa and write his story hehehe. Sorry just joshing Sa. Really, I when I read the idea I just had to write it up. Hopefully I can do it justice. Anyway, this is a present to Sa_Makain from Squarestuff, visit the site 'cause it's gonna rock!

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ALTHOUGH I RATED THIS AS PG IT DOES HAVE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IN IT. NOT MUCH BUT ENOUGH TO WARRANT A SMALL WARNING. IF ANYTHING JUST TO APPEASE ALL THOSE LITTLE KIDDIES PARENTS. I GAVE IT A PG BECAUSE I DON'T THINK SWEARING SHOULD HEIGHTEN THE RATING. IF NOBODY HAS HEARD THE WORDS SAID IN THIS STORY THEY OBVIOUSLY WERE HOME-TUTORED AND HAVE NEVER DRIVEN A CAR IN PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC. IN OTHER WORDS YOUR EITHER DEAF OR DEAD. HENCE THE LOW RATING. IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THIS YOU CAN TALK TO MY ATTORNY. HE /IS/ DEAF BUT HE CAN STILL FLIP YOU OFF. ;)

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******

The winds continued to swirl around the valley picking up dust, leaves and litter from the ruins. He let the hot wind rush over his face, kick up his loose hair and pound his face with dirt particles. He closed his eyes and didn't bother shading his face from the onslaught. Maybe he felt he deserved the treatment, perhaps it was just a reminder that he was alive. Either way he didn't care, either way it felt good.

It was over. They'd done it!

Then why didn't he feel happy about it?

Now he bought his hand up to shade his eyes from the wind, just so he could open them long enough to gaze down into the valley.

Midgar was gone.

The city he'd fought so hard to save. The putrid sleazy, crime filled sewer that was Midgar. Trying so hard for so many years to get it back on it's feet for nothing. The poor had remained poor, the rich had just gotten richer. It was more than one man could fix. All for nothing. Too little too late and now it was nothing but a shell, a ghost town. But he had tried. And gradually he'd been able to see little improvements. Improvements to the city. Wasn't that what he'd been hired for?

Apparently not. After all, hadn't most of his ideas always been shot down, disregarded? Had he only been hired to make them feel big every time they shot him down and told him he was being ridiculous? Until of course they'd found a 'real' use for him.

Me, a spy.

He had almost laughed when they'd first told him of the plan.

When he saw that /they/ weren't laughing, he had almost cursed out loud. Firstly for ever showing Cait to Scarlet, secondly because it was simply just too much. He was an engineer. He did Urban Planning, not secret service type stuff. Wasn't that what they had the Turks for?

Damn Scarlet had to open her big mouth.

He had been so excited about his find. He had been wandering through the stacks trying to find the original blueprints for some of the underground structures when he'd come across some of the old, now obsolete science gear. It had been mostly Professor's Gast's and was stored down there after his death. Labelled too important to throw away and not important enough to warrant having a place up in the labs that Hojo now had control over.

How could a big white Mog holding a stuffed kitten not be intriguing when it was obviously once in the possession of such a genius such as Gast? What the hell could it have been for. Regardless it had been interesting enough for Reeve to drag it out of storage. Only problem was, he had needed somewhere to store it.

He had looked over the small amount of working instructions that had been stored with the Mog. There was much on the internal workings, but enough for him to believe that he could get the thing up and running again. That presented another problem. He also needed somewhere to work on it.

The only real work spaces in the Shinra Building were reserved for Weapons Development, The Science Department and the Tech Department. Scarlet, Hojo or Palmer. None of which he really wanted to ask a favour of. He grit his teeth and asked Scarlet. Bad move. 

The only good thing that immediately came out of the arrangement was that he was allowed to make a duplicate of Cait. It somehow made the duplicate more /his/ rather than someone else's work. Cait was someone else's work true, but Reeve felt he was truly /his/ after a while. He'd spent so much time putting him back together, getting him to work that it sure felt like his after a while. 

One thing he'd truly hated though was have to control Cait. He had hoped that he'd be able to make Cait independent; move on his own, speak his own ideas and feelings. Gast's notes had eluded that this was possible, but there had been no extra thoughts on how it could actually be accomplished. So Reeve had kept Cait on remote and spied on Cloud and the others for Shinra.

He never regretted finally joining Cloud's side and helping him instead of Shinra. Not even when Scarlet and Heidigar tried to have him locked up. Through Cait he had been able to see this band of amazing warriors that were fighting, not for money, not for fame but for the life of the planet. He had been in awe. He had always wished he could be like that. A fearless warrior that saved the world, that never thought of the danger to themselves. He knew he wasn't truly like that deep down. But he had tried.

Like so many things, it was possibly too little too late.

He sat there and looked down at his rumpled suit and wondered what he'd do with himself now that it was all over. He didn't want to try and fit in with Cloud and the others. He wasn't like them. He wasn't a good guy, no matter what he'd done with them as Cait he had been with Shinra for too long. He'd helped them do too many nasty things and he couldn't just ignore that.

He had seen Reno and the other Turks outside Midgar not too long ago and had been amazed when they had invited him to come along with them till he decided what he wanted to do. He had declined their offer, even though that's where he truly felt he belonged.

Yeah with the killers and the thieves.

The Turks were aright people so long as you were one the same side as them. He just didn't want to be around them right now. They mightn't have been the people that ordered all those shady things done to people, but they were the ones who actually did it with a nod and a smile. If he wanted to distance himself from Shinra and all that had happened, handing around the Turks was not how he should go about it.

He needed to be by himself and do whatever he wanted to do. He wasn't a warrior, but there was at least one thing he had enjoyed being able to do in amongst the madness.

Above Midgar he could see the Highwind still making slow circles over the ruins of Midgar. The people on board were probably trying to decide what they themselves wanted to do. He allowed himself a small smile.

With his free hand he fitted the discarded earpiece into his ear and talked into the small mic hidden inside his jacket.

"Cloud? I need to ask you a favour."

********************************

1 Month Later.

"I haven't had many people come to look at the place. But it really is a nice little place. It's just you isn't it?"

Reeve looked away from the young woman to take a better look at his surroundings. He wasn't surprised that Gast's little lab had practically remained deserted since his death. No doubt Shinra would have plundered it initially, but even as he looked around, Reeve could see a few yellowing pieces of paper sticking up out of crowded drawers and files lying across the workbenches.

"In a manner of speaking." Reeve answered vaguely.

He walked over to one of the benches and picked up one of the files, flipping through it.

"I didn't really have a chance to clean the place up. But you can be assured that if you are interested, we will have one of our staff come in here and.."

Reeve waved the file at her to silence her. "If you did that I wouldn't be as interested in it."

"Oh." Was all she said.

Reeve couldn't help his manner. He hadn't really liked real-estate agents at all in Midgar. Especially when he had to move almost continually around the city. Shinra was constantly expanding the city and making alterations and unfortunately for Reeve, that meant he could never stay in the same apartment for very long. It was his own fault really. He was the one that chose to live outside the mega-rich areas on the plates. One thing he had in common with a few of the men from the Turks. The mega-rich had little tolerance for loud music, one thing Reeve felt he couldn't live without while working, and he couldn't bring himself to be neighbours with most of the other Shinra execs. If you were, your private life hardly seemed private anymore. And so this intensely private engineer with a fetish for loud music always found himself relocating to make way for the latest Shinra 'growth'.

He forced himself to give the poor woman a warm smile. She had come out here all the way from Junon to meet with him. This was classified as ex-Shinra property after all. Since Shinra is no longer around, alot of the remaining small power hungry companies had squabbled over divisions of Shinra property. Luckily for him, the company that took over most of the areas on the Northern Continent had been a hydroelectric company. They were more interested in the rivers that lay within Shinra land rather than scientific advancement or personal residences. Needless to say, they had been happy when Reeve had shown an interest in buying Gast's old residence at Icicle Village.

The young woman seem to take his smile as a positive sign and offered a smile in return.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

Reeve replaced the file and leant back on the desk. He been afraid of this.

"What do you want with this place. I mean it's a run-down personal residence with a small lab. Are you interested in the notes left by the previous owner?"

Here Reeve had to be careful. If he said yes, the company might start to suspect that the lab was worth hanging onto rather than selling.

"I'm mainly interested in the work space. The previous owner was the father of one of my friends as well. I thought she might be interested in being able to go through some of the personal belongings."

He hated lying about it all. Especially about bringing Aeris into this. Of course Aeris wouldn't be able to go through her father's belongings even if she had wanted to. He felt a stab of guilt but he tired not to let it show. 

To his relief the woman nodded. 

"It really is amazing how much Shinra has done, how far the greed spread. Hopefully your friend can now claim something back from what was taken from them."

If only that were possible.

"Yeah." Reeve muttered.

The young woman straightened herself and wandered after him. "You've seen the asking price. Do we have a deal?"

Reeve didn't have to think it over. "Yes. Thankyou."

********************************************

Reeve removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. The papers carefully balanced in his lap tilted slightly as he craned his neck around to check the clock by the headboard of the modest little bed he was propped up on.

12:39am. Not exactly late by anyone's standards, but it was when you had been working since dawn. He was tired and strung out. It had been a whole week since he'd moved into the little lab. A week since he had begun to sort through the massive stacks of personal notes and files that had been left behind by professor Gast.

Reeve hadn't been surprised to find most of his actual lab notes to be either missing or very incomplete. Undoubtably, Shinra had cleaned out most of that work as soon as possible, lest somebody else come across the precious notes. Reeve didn't mind in the least. It made his job a damn sight easier. Most of what remained were Gast's side experiment notes, nothing useful or incriminating to Shinra, but exactly what Reeve had been searching for was amongst these side notes.

Most of the science stuff made little sense to him, but he found some of the work to be rather intriguing. The ideas and conclusions were compelling and Reeve couldn't help but be drawn into it.

He didn't care that it was not what he was after, he read it anyway. After all, there was no place that he had to be. Nobody expecting him anywhere. It was a relief and a discomfort and a rather lonely feeling. Often he found himself wondering what the others were up to. How they were living. Had Tifa and Cloud gotten together? Had Reno finally settled down with at least his five favourite woman? 

They all had someone. A group of friends to hang out with. And Reeve as always was left with no one. The novelty of finally being able to do whatever the hell he wanted was starting to wear thin and all he craved was company.

Looking over the darkened lab he caught sight of the large white body standing out in the darkness. He removed the papers from his lap and stood, making his way over to the immobile body. He flicked on the light as he past in so he could see the Mog and it's small burden more clearly. 

Cait sat atop the Mog, head bowed forward, eyes shut.

He hoped that Gast's notes for Cait were here. It was the real reason he had come after all. He couldn't help wondering whether he was reading all of Gast's other notes as a way of delaying what he'd come here for. After all wouldn't it be all a waste if he didn't end up finding them?

True, he did find Gast's work entertaining, but he admitted there might be /some/ truth in it. 

Procrastination, thy name is Reeve.

Reeve rolled his eyes at his own thoughts.

"I think I'm finally beginning to snap." He muttered to himself.

Reaching over to the laptop on the bench and flicked a switch on the side. A small beep echoed through the lab and Cait's form moved slightly, the small cat raising its head and opening its small eyes.

"What do you think Cait?"

Of course Cait didn't respond without Reeve controlling him. For some weird reason with Cait turned on Reeve's feeling of loneliness had lessened and he was tempted to leave the power on all night.

With a heavy sigh he reached over and flipped the power off causing Cait to slump back into his previous position. The power usages were killing what remained of his bank account as it was. 

Which bought him to another problem.

He needed a job.

Shinra had always paid him well and his living in the outer districts had lessened the costs of living in Midgar, but the fact remained that the money wouldn't last forever. He'd been living off it for over a month and now it was beginning to dwindle.

Any resume he could come up with would probably be met with a spray of rotten fruit. The only job he ever had was with Shinra and that was a problem within itself. Around here the only jobs that seemed to be going was hunting, trading and logging. Trading would keep him away from the lab for too long and hunting was not exactly something he felt he could do. Not that he was worried about the whole braving the wilderness thing. If he ever felt he wasn't the hunter type he could send Cait. It was more the idea of killing the animals. Reeve liked the ignorance of not knowing or thinking that your food was once a living creature. He figured that if he was ever in the position to only eat what you caught yourself, he'd turn vegetarian in an instant. That only left logging. It didn't seem too tough when he'd heard of it. Then he'd actually seen some of the loggers in action out the front of the village. No chainsaws, no logging trucks. Just axes and muscle. While Reeve could buy an axe, he was worried about the whole muscle thing. Surely they would take one look at him and laugh in his face.

Well he had probably another month before he would have to start begging in the streets, could he whip himself into shape in such a small time frame?

It would take a miracle.

Still he'd give it a try. He only wished that Cait could go for him. The work required a certain amount of dexterity though, not something Cait's Mog was capable of and Cait himself was way too small.

Reeve gave Cait a tender pat before flicking off the light and returning to his bed.

*******************************

"11.

12.

13."

Thirteen proved too much for him and he allowed himself to slump to the ground in a breathless heap.

Push-ups were the worst, they were almost as bad as the jogs through the snow in the mornings. But he had told himself that this had to be done. Get yourself presentable and get a job.

Where's a nice cosy office job when you need it?

He let himself lay on the stone floor for a while longer before reluctantly pushing himself up onto his feet. He staggered over to one of the benches where he'd left his water and perched himself on the benchtop.

He uncapped the bottle and took a healthy swig as he reached over with his free hand to snag the latest pile of files off the workbench beside him.

After two weeks he had nearly gone through Gast's entire lab. He was getting a little anxious actually. He'd have thought he would have found something on Cait by now. So far he'd turned up nothing relating to the robot. On the bright side, he had collected a rather large amount of research notes on weapons upgrades and materia usage. If totally necessary he figured some people might pay rather generous amounts if the results were successful. It was mainly all he'd been about to understand of Gast's work. Building things were Reeve's felid, gene splicing and mako enhancements were not.

Setting his water to one side he flipped through the pile casually, scanning the pages for hints to what they were about. Near the bottom of the pile he stopped dead. Going back over the page he re-read it carefully before a large grin crept over his face. 

"Holy fuck." He muttered.

"I never took you as the swearing type Reeve."

Reeve's head snapped up his gaze settling on the figure at the door that he hadn't even heard come in.

"Shit you scared me."

She smiled and walked further into the little lab. "That's twice you've surprised me." She stated as she brushed a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear.

Reeve's smile widened at the familiar face. He hopped down from the bench and met her halfway across the lab. 

"It's good to see you Elena. Up here on business?"

She wandered past him, casting her gaze around her surroundings, ever the watchful Turk. 

"Yes and no. Somebody stole an expensive item over in Bone Village. I guess you could say I was in the area." Her eyes fell on Cait huddled up in one corner of the room. "I guess I was curious about what you were doing up here."

"Getting away from it all I suppose. Do I need to ask how you knew I was here?" He asked.

She smiled broadly at the question. "We're Turks Reeve. Aren't we supposed to know everything?"

He allowed a small chuckle, "Still Turks?"

"Better believe it. I think Reno is enjoying the work more now that he's the boss. Plus we get to do our own thing. How about you?"

"Like I said, Just getting away from it all. Mostly I wanted to see if I could dig up anything Gast had on Cait."

Reeve watched as Elena did a small circle of the lab. He had always liked Elena. Probably because when he'd first met her she was still new to the Turks, someone who had yet to be tainted by the work or Shinra's influence. Naive was a good word. She always had a bright smile and a kind word to say to him though. However friendly and warm she was, he couldn't forget who she was. He was still getting over the shock of her just showing up. Now he was beginning to wonder if there was an ulterior motive for her visit.

"Find anything?" She asked when she finally turned back to face him.

"Not yet, not really." He lied. "So where are the idiot twins?" 

"Wutai. We have a big contract with Lord Godo that they have to fill. They sent me solo for this. I guess it's because it's just a theft, nothing major. Hey, you wanna go get a drink?"

Reeve's defenses went up immediately.

"Did you really just come for a visit Elena?"

He couldn't tell for sure, but she looked a little stunned by his question.

"That's what I told you. Is something wrong with that?"

Reeve swallowed. He didn't want to upset her. Especially if she was telling the truth. It just seemed a little too sudden. Here he was in a lab filled with research notes on a broad range on things. Things that might be of use or sellable. He could definitely see why the Turks might be interested.

"I don't get a lot of visitors." He admitted.

Elena raised an eyebrow at him and looked at the papers that he had discarded when she had entered.

"You think I have an ulterior motive for coming? Why Reeve, I wouldn't have thought there'd be anything here worth stealing."

"Do you?"

Even as he said it he felt sick with guilt.

She bought her gaze back to his face. She really did look hurt. She could have been acting, but Reeve wouldn't buy it. They weren't enemies, they had been. Well not really. 

"If I wanted anything off you Reeve I would ask you. I would have liked to think of us as friends."

"I know I'm sorry."

Elena turned toward the door. "Yeah well I'm sorry I came."

"Elena wait!"

She halted by the door and turned to face him.

"I think I've been on my own for too long." He tried to explain. "I really am glad you came."

Elena cast him a suspicious glance before her expression softened again. "I guess I'm a little paranoid too. Goes with the territory."

He smiled little nervously. "Still want to go for that drink?"

***********************************

He flipped the card over in his hands a few times his thoughts still in the bar with Elena. She had left over half an hour ago, but his mind still lingered on her.

Maybe I do have friends after all.

She had told him that if he ever needed help that the Turks were at his service and gave him a card. 

Constantly he had wondered if his little lab was being ransacked while Elena kept him busy at the bar. But he had returned home finding nothing out of place or seemingly missing.

She really had come all the way here to see me.

The thought seemed so inane to Reeve that his mind kept conjuring up paranoid ulterior reasons that she had come. All of which resulted in his lab being broken into. All of which had been put to rest once he'd gotten back finding everything as it should be.

"I really have been alone for too long." He muttered out loud.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even remembered the notes he discovered just s he was interrupted by Elena. He only did now as his wandering eyes fell upon the dim outline of the Mog in the dusk light. Pushing the card into his pocket he picked up the stack of notes and re-read them.

He grinned inanely as he read through it all again. He'd finally found the notes on Cait.

__

end notes: okay so I've got the first chapter done. It was smaller than my usual chapters but I'm pushing through the story fairly fast so I'm sure all will be forgiven. This is shaping up to be quite the story I reckon. Sa_Makain, I think you've found a winner. Anyway, like most of my fics I intended this to be short but it isn't really turning out this way. With 'Monster' I only intended it to be 3 chapters and so far I have over twenty plotted out. This one I planned as only 1 chapter and I think I have enough ideas to keep it going till at least a third chapter. I could have done it in one, but I get carried away I can't help it. If I really wanted to I could make it neverending....but I won't. If more is asked I will write more, till then, two more chapters and I'm out. Before you start sending the hate mail 'cause I've taken a break from Temporary Insanity or Monsters, never fear. I reckon I'll have this one down in a weekend, so never fear I haven't stopped writing for those. Anyway, you're probably asking yourself why I added so many things in there that wasn't necessary. Firstly 'cause I am a big fan of the sequel and I firmly believe that everything should be left open for such an occurrence. Secondly it needs background. Reeve needs it for his character and I need it to keep my own interests. Oh and don't ask me why I stuck Elena in there. Probably to keep an opening for new characters namely the Turks. Oh and don't worry AVALANCHE fans, I foresee a couple of them on the ever-expanding plot horizon so stay tuned, the next chapter is on it's way...

Flame me if you must, just don't muss the hair or I'll go Chaos on your ass

Lots of love from various positions

AF

anime_fearie@excite.com


	2. Chapter 2

A Different Kind Of Superhero ****

A Different Kind Of Superhero

__

by Anime Fearie

& Sa Makain

Chapter Two

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*****

"Ya sure nobody's in there Tom?"

"Sure I saw 'im go. C'mon."

The two boys crept up to the slightly frosted window and peeked inside the small house.

They'd heard some of the other boys from the village talking about the weird little house before. That something had been moving around inside while the owner was out. Something definitely not human. None of the other boys had been game enough to go and look for themselves, but Tom had insisted that they just /had/ to come and take a look.

"Won't hurt nothing", Tom had told him, "Stop being such a wuss Petie."

That was all it had taken. 

The rumours had been flowing around for ages about the new guy in town. That he was performing some weird experiments in his little lab. Turning children into monsters, creating weapons of mass destruction. The man was hardly 'new' anymore, but the rumours had continued never the less. It had been almost two months since the man had moved into town now and it hadn't been till now that Tom had actually talked him into breaking into the man's house and taking a sneak peak and whatever monsters might lurk within.

Tom slid the window up carefully and peered into the gloom inside. No lights were on, indeed the only light in the room came from the now open window they were standing at.

"You sure you want to go in there?" Petie asked nervously.

Tom grinned at him and nodded to the affirmative. 

"Last one in gets turned into a monster!"

Tom hooked at leg over the windowsill and pulled himself into the gloom. Petie could barely see the dim outline off his friend through the gloom, his head turning slowly from side to side.

"Anything?" Petie asked.

Tom came back to the window and leant out. "Come on in and take a look for yerself. Or are ya gonna stand out there all day and be a scardy cat?"

Petie's pride flared at the harsh words. Balancing himself against the windowsill he pulled himself in after his friend.

The both stood still for a little while to let their eyes adjust to the gloom. Slowly Petie could begin to make out the vague shapes of the lab and the small living quarters.

Without hesitating Tom wandered over to one of the workbenches and picked up a small metallic megaphone. Puzzling over the device he didn't notice the slight movement over in the far corner of the room.

Petie did though. "What's that?"

Tom turned in time to see a large form lumber out of the corner and into the light. The huge white mog body stopped two metres from the frozen boys. Atop the mog a small black and white cat gazed at the two calmly, it's green eyes almost glowing in the darkened room.

"You are trespassing on private property. Please leave." 

The boys looked at each other, shocked, still frozen to the spot.

It occurred to Petie that although he'd heard all the rumours, although he'd been frightened to come, he'd never really believed they'd find anything. The fact that they had was just beyond comprehension.

The cat tilted its head slightly but made no further move toward the boys. Instead he repeated his request.

"Please leave."

This time the boys did move. Both of them scurried toward the window in their desperate attempts to escape from the monster that had talked to them.

************************

Reeve let the axe fall the ground and presses the earpiece closer to his ear to hear above the noise of the other loggers.

The man working on the tree beside him stopped what he was doing and looked at the other man quizzically.

"Something wrong Reeve?"

Reeve listened for a few more moments before replying.

"I think somebody is breaking into my house Cray" He said, surprised by his own calmness.

Cray didn't ask how he knew this, he simply said, "Well you better go check. Holler if you need a hand."

Reeve nodded, turned and began a quick jog back to the village. Luckily for him, they were only about a five minute walk from the village and Reeve was able to run the distance in less than one. The snow kicked up behind him as he ran, but he hardly let it slow him down. Finally he came over a slight rise and in sight of the village. He slowed slightly and made a scan for his house.

He was just in time to see two young boys come tumbling out of his back window. The boys fell into a messy heap on the snow then scrambled away from the house at breakneck speed.

Reeve slowed completely to a walk as he watched the boys disappear across the clearing. He grinned, obviously Cait must have given the curious youths quite a scare. He wasn't worried that they were there to rob him. A little town like this had a crime rate of about zero. More than likely they had just broken in to catch a glimpse of the 'monster'.

Reeve had heard all the rumours. And had quietly ignored them all. Soon he'd finish his project and the whole village would see for themselves what he'd been up to. Just not yet. 

He reached his door and inserted his key into the lock.

Most people treated him decently enough, despite what rumours they may have heard. He believed that no one really believed any of them anyway.

He pushed the door open and flicked the light on. 

Cait was in the center of the room and looked over at him as he entered.

"Hi Cait. Had a run in with a couple of the boys with the village did you?" Reeve asked, still amused by the boy's hasty retreat.

Cait blinked at him but didn't respond. Reeve hadn't expected him to.

"What happened?" Reeve asked.

"Two people illegally gained access to your house at.."

Reeve raised his hand to silence him, "I know when they were here Cait, did they take anything?"

"No Reeve. I informed you of their presence and asked them to leave as I am supposed to."

Cait's monotone voice began to grate of Reeve's nerves, not to mention his mechanical vocal chords. It was a small problem that Reeve had noticed and was currently searching for ways to remedy.

"Thankyou Cait." Reeve returned politely.

Sensing that his job was done Cait turned his mog around and lumbered back to the corner.

Reeve scowled at the cat and leant back against the doorframe. Working on Cait had been quite the undertaking and he was only really half finished. Cait was now able to walk freely and talk by himself, but Reeve would hardly call him independent. Anything that was out of the bounds on his programming, Cait was fairly useless for. In fact all that he was really able to do at present was be a rather effective security system. He couldn't think up his own ideas or drawn his own conclusions about anything. It made conversation with the robot fairly dull. Cait possessed no views or opinions because basically he had no personality. Artificial intelligence was one thing, but you till had to have a basic template to start with.

Gast's intentions for Cait had been to create a free and totally independent creature capable of original though processes. And that had been Reeve's wish from the beginning.

Still he couldn't do anything about it until Elena got back to him. He needed Gast's old equipment and he hadn't the foggiest clue as where to start searching for it. So he had asked Elena if the Turks would look into it for him. 

Gast's notes spoke of special machines and hardware that Reeve had been unable to find in the lab. He supposed if he had the blueprints, he may be able to build such devices himself, he was an engineer after all. But even those had been missing. He had to admit that if Elena couldn't find anything, his work here was very short lived.

******************************

Just as Reeve took the final hit on the tree in front of him a whistle sounded throughout the noisy woods.

"Timber!" Cray yelled out beside him as the tree fell knocking a few smaller ones with it.

Reeve breathed a sigh of relief once the tree finally came to a rest on the ground before them. The day was over. Finally.

He had found that, no matter what conditioning he'd put his body through before he took the job, he still wasn't able to get through an entire day without feeling as though he'd run a marathon.

Cray smirked at him and Reeve hunched over and took a few much need deep breaths.

"Still knock yer wind out don't it?" He asked amused.

Reeve straightened himself and rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Easy for you to joke." He wheezed. "You've been doing this forever."

He wasn't far off it either. Cray had to have been about fifty, but still had the strength that most 25yr olds would be jealous of.

"Watch your mouth there boy, I ain't that old."

It also amused Reeve that the man referred to him as 'boy'. Reeve himself was in his thirties and it had been at least a decade since anybody had called him that. But that was Cray. He saw Reeve as a boy because he still had at least twenty years on the younger man, and also because he knew it annoyed him most of the time.

"Maybe I should be calling you 'boy' then." Reeve told him.

He pulled off his shirt and used it to mop his sweaty forehead. The cool northern breeze quickly chilled his skin and bought his body back to a more comfortable temperature.

Cray laughed and slapped Reeve's back, almost propelling the younger man into the snow at his feet.

"C'mon Reeve I'll buy you a drink."

A slight rustling from the bushes behind them caused the two to turn. Standing in the small clearing with them was another man in a rather sloppy navy blue suit.

"Did I hear something about a drink?"

Reeve couldn't help the broad grin that crept over his face at the sight of the new arrival.

"Reno!"

Reno smiled and wandered closer to the two men, his nightstick casually resting on his shoulder.

"Man Reeve, we leave you up here in the wilderness for a few months and look what happens. Gods you really have gone 'hick' haven't you."

Reeve looked down at himself. Filthy jeans, shirt off and drenched with sweat. Until now he hadn't really notice how he must look. After all, the last time he'd seen Reno, he'd been wearing a rather expensive suit and tie.

"Guess it goes with the territory."

Cray was looking at Reno rather sourly beside him. Even in places such as this, everyone had heard of the Turks. And not a hell of a lot of people liked them. Reno just ignored it. Reeve guessed that he was used to such looks.

"I need to clear up some things." Reeve told Cray apologetically. "I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

Cray nodded, his eyes never leaving Reno. "You sure?"

"Yeah, thanks. Say hi to Sandi and Cara for me."

Cray finally looked away from the Turk and nodded once more to Reeve. "Will do. See you tomorrow."

Once Cray was out of sight Reno shrugged and tried to look innocent. "Was it something I said?"

Reeve bent down and picked up his gear that lay over by a neighbouring tree. "Not necessarily." Reeve admitted. "But the 'hick' comment probably didn't go down too well. Where are the others?"

"Back at the village." Reno came over and threw a companionable arm over Reeve's shoulders as they began the treck back to town. "So who are Sandi and Cara?"

*******************************************

Elena watched as Reno made his way back toward the house. Both her and Rude had waited patiently while he had gone to fetch Reeve. He hadn't been an easy man to track down. They had to ask around most of the town before learning that Reeve worked for the logging company and was on-site a couple of minutes out of town.

Reno had been gone about fifteen minutes before she had seen her fellow Turk treck back into sight. Beside him walked a man with dark brown hair that Elena barely recognised as Reeve.

"Is that Reeve?" Elena asked just to make sure.

Rude looked in the indicated direction and nodded. "Sure is."

"He looks different."

"Sure does. Roughing it seems to agree with him."

Elena couldn't agree with him more.

They waited in silence until the two men caught up to them.

"Long time since I've seen all three of you together." Reeve commented smiling. "Business good?"

"Profitable, if that's what you mean." Rude answered, emotionless as always.

Reeve shook his head, immediately reading into the wording Rude had used. Fishing his keys out of his pocket, Reeve opened the door and led the three of them inside his house.

The place looked much neater than the last time Elena had been here, but it still retained its usual disarray.

Reno immediately perched himself on one of the side benches next to where Rude had chosen to lean. Elena wandered 'round the lab until she caught sight of the Cait Sith huddled up into one corner. She approached the robot and looked it over.

"Does it move yet?" She asked turning her head slightly to look back at Reeve.

Reeve merely grinned. "Cait?"

The robot immediately responded almost causing Elena to fall over with surprise.

"Yes Reeve?"

Reno pulled out a cigarette and stuck it into the corner of his mouth rather casually. "Cool. Can it do tricks?"

Ignoring the sarcasm Reeve went over to Elena and stood at her side in front of Cait. "He's not much at the moment. His programming is limited, so are his movements. There's not much more I can do with what I know and the equipment I've got."

"Can he learn things?" Elena asked.

"No, he only knows what I've programmed him for. I'm hoping to change that though."

"Speaking of equipment..." Reno interrupted from across the room.

Reeve turned to see Reno holding up something that looked rather like a metallic headband.

"You got it?"

"Yep. The rest of it is back at the Inn. Can I ask what it does?"

Reeve went over to Reno and lifted the device from the other man's hands. 

"This is going to help me give Cait a personality." Reeve stated turning the device over in his hands.

Reno grinned. "Cool. Does this mean it might work on Rude?"

The remark earned him a dirty look from his fellow Turk and a slight giggle from Elena. Reeve though was too enthralled with what was in front of him.

********

It took them only about 10mins to get all the stuff from the Inn back over to Reeve's place. Reeve had been delighted and overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that the Turks had been able to procure.

Reeve set down the last bit on the workbench and turned back to Reno who was lingering over by the doorway as they waited for Elena and Rude to return with their loads.

"Where did you get all this stuff?"

Reno shrugged. "Most of it was still down in the stacks where you said you found the robot. Most of the rest we got in Nibleheim. Ran into your buddy Vince by the way, can't say he was happy to see us, but he let us take the stuff from the mansion."

"Guess I've worn out my favours with this one then. You sure have been everywhere. I can't believe that the equipment in Midgar survived." Reeve said slightly awed.

"Eh, Midgar's a tough bitch. 'Sides the stacks are way down on the lower levels."

Reeve nodded and turned his attention back to the item he had just set down.

Reno coughed slightly nervously behind him. "About those favours....I was kinda hoping that you might be able to help /us/ out one day. You know pay us back."

Reeve turned back to Reno in surprise. "What could I possibly do to help the Turks?"

"Well," Reno began slowly gazing around the room, "Here you have access to all kinds of new stuff. I just figured that if you ever ran across anything that might be..."

"Used as a weapon?" Reeve interrupted testily. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Not necessarily." Reno said quickly. "Just useful ya know?"

Reeve calmed himself a little. He hadn't expected Reno to do him a favour for nothing, so he didn't know why he should get so upset about it all.

"I won't help you kill people Reno."

"I'm not...."

Reeve interrupted him again, "But I will see if there is anything I can find that might help /you/ survive. To be honest though, I'm not sure if there's much I could find. Most of Gast's real work was confiscated."

"Thanks Reeve, you're a bud. Me and Elena will hang 'round for a couple of days, help you get set up if you like." Reno grinned.

Reeve nodded, not completely sure he liked that idea.

********************************

He took the next few days off work to allow himself to look over his new inventory. The technical aspects of a few of the devices were a little baffling at first, but with the help of Gast's notes he was able to get a few of them to work. The thing he was most interested with was a machine that allowed you to completely map out a person's brainwaves and store them onto a small device. It recorded everything from that person's knowledge, personality traits and most importantly that person's ability to learn. It all depended on the individual's intelligence really. It was the main piece of equipment that Reeve had sent the Turks after. All he needed was a guinea pig.

Without thinking twice he nominated himself.

The process took more than half a day. Half a day that Reeve had to spend completely still while the machine did its work. After working most of his days chopping trees he had assumed that spending most of the day sitting down doing nothing would be an absolute joy in comparison. It wasn't until the third hour into the process that he realised just how boring doing nothing actually was.

It didn't help that Reno seemed intent of disturbing him periodically just to annoy him and ask a question. He was just glad that Rude had to go out to Junon to take care of business or he might have had to deal with both of the Turks. Elena on the other hand was a godsend. Every couple of hours she would wander off and fetch him some water. If he was really lucky she would talk Reno into not annoying him for at least an hour or two.

The machine next to him let of a soft beep letting Reeve know it'd finished its cycle.

"Jeez man I thought you would be trapped there forever." Reno muttered from his position sprawled across Reeve's bed in the corner.

Reeve took the headband off his head and let out a yawn.

He never knew doing nothing could be so exhausting.

"I was beginning to wonder." Reeve admitted.

Elena wandered over and looked at the small silver box that apparently now held an electronic form of Reeve's brain.

"Hard to believe isn't it? That such a small thing could hold so much." She mused.

"You're assuming that Reeve had a lot to begin with." Reno joked.

Elena scowled at her fellow Turk. Reeve didn't care. He was way too excited about the next phase of his experiment.

"Cait?"

The cat looked up from his place in the corner, his luminous green eyes focussing on Reeve from across the room.

"Yes Reeve?"

"I have some data for you to upload."

Cait nodded and began to shuffle his mog over to where Reeve was sitting. 

"Reno hand that lead you're sitting on." Reeve asked taking the small silver box into his hands and looking it over.

Reno arched his back and reached underneath himself to grab the long optic cord Reeve had requested. 

"Catch."

Reno threw the lead over in Reeve's direction who managed to catch it without dropping his burden. He plugged the cord into the box and walked around Cait to face his back. Lifting up the little red cape he flipped open a panel to allow him to get to Cait's programming center. Once everything was in place he set the box back down on the counter beside the mog and gave Cait the command to begin uploading.

While this was going Elena wandered over to Reeve to get a closer look. Even Reno got up and wandered over, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"How long is this supposed to take?" Elena asked.

Reeve shrugged. "I'm not.....

Cait's voice interrupted them. "Upload complete."

It seemed as though everybody else in the room held their breath, not sure what to expect. 

Cait looked the trio over curiously, but remained quiet.

"Well, did it work?" Reno asked impatiently.

Again Cait didn't respond.

Reeve watched the little cat carefully, fearful that it hadn't worked.

"Cait?" He asked gently.

Cait focussed back on Reeve, just as he always did. "Yes Reeve?"

He was almost afraid to ask the next question.

"How do you feel?"

Cait blinked at him before looking down at himself. "Different." He answered simply.

**********************************************

Reeve and Elena sat on the floor of the lab. The little kitten in front of them looked quizzically at the pair as they talked between each other. Reno snored from his position on Reeve's bed in the corner. He had eventually tired of Reeve's new toy and had promptly passed out.

Cait turned his head over to the corner where his mog sat hunched over and powered down. Reeve had insisted that the mog wasn't necessary for the tests he wanted to run on Cait, but Cait couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable without it. In fact he was uncomfortable with the whole concept that Reeve could just turn it off when he didn't need it. Would Reeve do that to him once he was finished with him?

That thought didn't make him particularly comfortable. But his basic programming told him to trust Reeve without question, so he chose to believe it. This new woman was different though. She talked closely with Reeve as if the two were close friends, hanging off each other's questions and comments. Cait began to feel a little left out of the conversation. They were talking about him, just not to him. He supposed he should speak up, but he didn't want to offend anyone. Sooner or later they'd take more notice of him.

He got up from his crouched position on the floor and toddled over to his mog. The mog sat dark and unmoving. Cait found this curious. He knew that Reeve had turned him off, but the mog had always responded to him in the past. He'd never been kept on when the mog hadn't been. 

He sat down in front of it and reached out a paw to poke it hesitantly. Still no response. Curious, he did it again. But he got the same result. 

_Maybe Reeve will turn it back on if I ask him._

He turned around prepared to do just that and saw that both of the people had stopped talking and were watching him. 

"What's wrong Cait?" Reeve asked.

For the first time Cait began to feel a little silly asking Reeve about the mog. He knew that the mog was off and that's why he couldn't communicate with it. He just felt silly about wanting it turned back on, like it was some sort of comforter.

"I just..." Cait began, then, "...nevermind."

Reeve looked like he wanted to ask Cait another question but Elena beat him to the punch.

"Cait? Do you know who I am?"

Cait cast one last forlorn look toward his mog before moving back toward the pair sitting on the floor.

"I think I should, but..."

"You don't have my memories?" Reeve asked.

Cait got the feeling that Reeve already knew the answer to that question.

"Some things are a little muddled." He admitted.

"Do you know my parents names?" 

Cait thought for a moment. He knew it should be something he knows, but he couldn't come up with anything. 

"No. Sorry."

"Do you know how many valves need to be open in the exhaust tower of a mako reactor for it to be safe to function at 60 per cent." Reeve tried again.

"Three." Came the immediate answer.

Elena looked amazed. "He doesn't know your personal memories but does know how to run a mako reactor?"

"Gast mentioned something about that. He somehow filtered out the difference between the brain's function for long term memory while still being able to retain technical learning from the subject. It's amazing really. He won't know something like my middle name but he'll know most of my skills." Reeve finished proudly.

"I'm impressed." Elena said smiling at Reeve.

Reeve shrugged and quickly looked away from her. "It's not my invention." He told her humbly, "I just had the time Gast didn't to make it work."

"I'm still impressed." She told him truthfully.

Reeve turned back to her and smiled warmly. "Thankyou."

Cait watched the two with great interest. Obviously he was a hit, but he got the feeling he was being forgotten again.

*********************************

The next few days consisted of catching balls, asking him questions and learning new things. Cait found the whole experience quite interesting. The two people that were with Reeve told him all about themselves and where they came from. Cait found it all a little weird. Apparently they were part of a group that people hired to do odd jobs for them. He had asked the noisy one, Reno, if this was true and he had told him;

"Yeah, but its not like we clean gutters or give old men blow jobs. But you basically got the right idea."

He had seen Reeve up on the roof cleaning the snow out of the gutters once and had to admit that it wasn't a job he wished on anyone. But what he hell was a blowjob?

He asked Reeve one morning at breakfast and Reeve had almost choked on his cornflakes. Unfortunately the only answer he gotten was;

"I'll tell you when you're older."

One thing he had never grasped was the concept of was what Reeve called, 'big people talk'. On another occasion he asked Reeve why he'd suddenly gone all red when he'd seen that Elena had missed the last button on her blouse one morning. Reeve had subtly told him the same thing.

Elena was by far the most interesting out of the two new people. She seemed to enjoy sitting for hours and telling him about all the different places she'd been and all the things he'd missed. About Avalanche and Sephiroth and his own part in the whole scheme of things. He liked talked to her. She was friendly and warm. She told him he was cute and ruffled his fur when he'd done something well. He sure hoped that she didn't have to go off on one of her adventures too soon. He wondered that when the time came for her to leave, wether she'd take him with her so he could see all these amazing things she talked about. Hopefully she'd say yes. After all he'd never even been out of Reeve's house yet.

********************

Reeve sat back on his chair and watched Reno teach Cait how to make a Molotov and other assorted bombs. At first Reeve had objected, but Reno seemed adamant to at least teach Cait /something/. He had to admit Cait had been somewhat of a novelty for the trio in the past couple of days. All of them treating him as though he was a child, all of them wanting to teach him something new. He was surprised that Reno had even gotten caught up in it all.

And Cait was in most respects a child. Most social things that Reeve knew weren't exactly what he'd consider a 'skill', and so the grown up traits had failed to be passed on to Cait. 

Socially Cait was pretty good though. There had only been a few instances where Cait had acted more out of child impulses, but overall he seemed fairly polite and ready to learn anything that they'd teach him. Sometimes he would clam up and refuse to continue speaking as if he'd suddenly gotten embarrassed. Reeve found it a little irritating. After all Cait was just acting on an impulse that told him that something was wrong, but he wouldn't understand why. Reeve couldn't even explain it to him because Cait wouldn't keep talking. He was quiet and reserved sometimes and occasionally would just stayed curled up on top of his mog for hours only talking to people when necessary. He wondered wether those /were/ traits that he had inadvertently passed on to Cait. Reeve wasn't like that himself as often as Cait seemed to display it. But for the traits Cait had learnt off him, there were at least 50 per cent more that Cait didn't have. The outcome might be that Cait only really had half of his capacity for a full personality, so the cycle of each emotion or mood would come around faster than it would for normal people. If Cait was happy and suddenly something happened to make him sadder, there was no slight mood changes. He was happy one moment and sulking the next.

It hadn't bothered Reeve at first. After all he was very proud of Cait and very attached to the cute little guy. No matter what Cait did, Reeve couldn't tire or get annoyed at him. But he had begun to think that the drastic changes, even though they occurred only occasionally, might be detrimental to Cait's own learning abilities. Reeve wanted the little cat to make a personality for itself through learning and experience. His own contributions were only meant as a template. It had worked for a while. But now Reeve had fears that these traits might stick with him. Maybe all he needed was another source to draw off.

He was distracted from her thoughts by Elena sliding up onto the bench beside him and handing him a steaming mug of coffee. 

He smiled at her gratefully and accepted the mug.

"How's it going?" She asked him nodding toward the two at the other end of the lab.

"After this is over I don't think we should let Cait near any explosives." Reeve muttered dryly.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Reno knows how to make most things out of everyday household items."

Reeve kept silent for a moment and sipped his coffee.

Finally he asked, "Do you think I should give Cait a few more skills?"

"How do you mean? Like fighting skills?"Elena laughed. "He'd be great at it, he could get into air ducks and stuff."

Her laughter drew the attention of the other two.

"What's up?" Reno asked.

"Hey Cait, how would you like a weapon?"

Cait just looked at her oddly.

"That's not quite what I meant." Reeve told her.

"A weapon?" Reno asked almost laughing himself. "This half pint?"

Reno nudged Cait almost toppling him off the stool he was sitting on. Cait leapt off the stool before Reno could nudge him again and wandered over to Elena.

"A weapon?" Cait asked timidly.

"Yeah sure." Elena continued. "What sort of weapon would you like Cait?"

"Elena, I don't want him killing things. That's not why I did all this." Reeve tried again.

"I don't know." Cait told her. "I don't know anything about weapons."

Elena turned back to Reeve, the smile never leaving her face.

"C'mon Reeve. Most people carry weapons now days. You could find yourself with a little bodyguard if you ever wanted to travel. And you can't travel without some protection. Mako monsters are still around you know."

At the mention of travelling, Cait perked up considerably. "You mean go other places?" He turned to Reeve with a rather pleading look for a cat. "Can we go travelling?"

Reeve seemed to falter under Cait's question. He hadn't realised that Cait might want to go out and see the world. Any why shouldn't he? He had every right to. Reeve would feel cruel if he said no.

"I guess we could one day. But Cait you aren't quite finished here yet."

"Who are you going to get to be the second source for Cait?" Elena asked, bringing the conversation back to its original question. 

"I guess now that you have him riled up, someone with a bit of weapons training. I should probably make the person totally different than me as well. It might be beneficial for him to have as many different traits as possible." Reeve mused taking another sip of his coffee.

"Totally different huh?" Elena asked.

Reeve didn't miss who her eyes came to rest on. In fact he almost laughed. He didn't know whether to think that'd she'd gone insane or if she was on the right track.

Across the room, Reno felt two pairs of eyes descend upon him. Somehow he knew he didn't like those looks they were giving him.

"What?"

***********************************************************

__

notes; wow, that wasn't quite as drawn out as the last one, but I'm still tryna go through it quickly. As much as I love writing Reeve stories I gotta admit there's only so much you can do with the guy. I'm hoping to get Cait in there as an actual character a little more. I have to admit I was starting to enjoy writing from his perspective for a little while. Anyway, there's more to come as there always is. I know I said I'd finish this in one chapter. Then I said I'd finish it in three. I still might but I could be looking at four or five. It's not my fault this story seems to have a mind of it's own. ;)

Always here to offer a bad joke and an even worse smile

AF

[anime_fearie@excite.com][1]

__

   [1]: mailto:anime_fearie@excite.com



	3. Chapter 3

A New Kind Of Superhero. ****

ADifferent Kind Of Superhero.

__

by Anime Fearie

& Sa Makain

****

Chapter 3

*****

Reeve shifted slightly to get the feeling to return to his butt. He'd been sitting out here for a good few hours, waiting. Elena sat silently beside him, gazing silently up at the stars glittering above their heads. They sat on a small rise of snow just behind Reeve's house waiting for the machine to complete its cycle.

It had taken the entire morning just to learn that Reno was incapable of sitting still long enough for the machine to complete it's work. The problem with Reno was that he always seemed to need something to occupy his mind and the machine couldn't work if the subject's mind wasn't constantly at rest. Anybody who didn't know Reno would have assumed that the Turk wasn't one of those people who were continually thinking, plotting whatever. But truth be told, Reno's mind just never seemed to shut up. It didn't seem to help that the Turk got bored with nothing to do within twenty minutes, and went off to seek something far more stimulating. In two hours Reeve found himself having to restart the process more than 5 times.

Finally Elena had asked if the subject had to be conscious or not. Reeve didn't know, but by that stage he was willing to give it a try.

And so, the rest of the day had been spent at the bar. 

It wasn't easy enough to just wait until Reno needed to sleep, because the Turk rarely ever slept for more than 4 hours straight, unless of course he was exceptionally exhausted or exceptionally drunk. Unable to get the Turk to go out for a jog, they had decided it was easier just to go over to the bar. Six hours later, and the rest of Reeve's savings finally saw Reno's head slump forward and hit the bar top with a sickening thud.

He and Elena had managed to drag their burden back to Reeve's house and leave the comatose drunkard in a heap on Reeve's bed, the silver headband in place and recording.

The pair had soon escaped the house, leaving Reno's loud snores behind them and seeked the relative peace and quiet of the night time outdoors.

Cait had followed and was now sitting down by the small frozen pond on the other side of the rise, playing with the snow by the edge.

Reeve found himself watching Cait for most of the time. The small kitten looked as though he was just playing with the snow. On closer inspection, Reeve noticed that he was in fact batting small amounts of snow across the ice. Watching it skitter across the smooth surface and come to rest on the solid water as if locked in an experiment.

"How do you think Cait will turn out?" Elena asked breaking the night's silence.

Reeve turned his head to look at her and noticed that she had followed his vision down to the tiny pond below.

"I don't know." Reeve answered truthfully. "A childlike version of a cross between Reno and myself I suppose. What do you think?"

Elena changed her gaze to settle more directly on Reeve. "Idealistically he'll have to best traits from the both of you."

"Idealistically?" He couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable being the object of Elena's attention. "Well you hope."

"Yes. He'll be charming, sincere, intelligent, agile, witty, capable, warm and friendly."

Reeve chuckled slightly. "That's quite a list. I'd hate to ask which ones you took from me."

Elena opened her mouth to reply, but Reeve found himself not wanting to know the answer, suddenly afraid that she had taken most of them from Reno and not himself. Before she had a chance to answer;

"Cait?" he called down to the pond.

He saw a pair of luminous green eyes focus on him in answer to the name.

"Time to go inside."

Cait cast a long look at the pond regretfully before trudging up the slope to meet his master.

Reeve bundled Cait in his arms and stood up. Cait let out a little muffled noise of surprise before relaxing into the embrace and sighing contently. Elena just gave him a quizzical look.

"Might be the last time I can do this." Reeve explained hugging Cait closely to his chest. "I get the feeling that he's going to grow up real fast soon."

Elena stood up and gave Cait a tender pat on the head. "You mean with the Reno addition?"

"Maybe more like he's about to become the difficult teenager."

*****

Luckily, by the time Reeve and Elena made it back inside the house, the obnoxious snoring had ceased. Reno lay exactly where they had left him, half curled up on his side, fast asleep. The thin metallic band gleamed on his forehead, tangled up in loose strands of the vibrant red mess that Reno called his hair. 

The little silver box that was attached to the headband was set on the headboard of the bed, the little green busy light still flickering on it's side telling Reeve that the process was still not completed.

He watched Elena cross over to Reno and flick some of his unbound hair off his face, apparently checking on her unconscious comrade. Reeve was so struck by the familiarity of the gesture that he had to wonder how often Elena was there to look after Reno, how often she may've been there when he fell asleep.....

His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle poke in his ribs.

He looked down to find Cait, still wrapped up his arms, looking up at him curiously. Reeve realised he must have zoned out.

"Sorry Cait." He quickly apologised before setting him down on the floor.

Cait sat there for a little longer and gazed up at Reeve before turning his head and gazing over toward Elena still over beside Reno.

Focusing back on Reeve he went to say something before seeming to think better of it and went off over to the corner where his Mog was sitting.

Reeve didn't want to question Cait on the look. Cait could misunderstand things sometimes, but he wasn't often wrong when making an observation.

Instead he watched Cait leap up onto the table beside his Mog, then turn and hop up onto the top of his Mog. He made a few turns then curled up and closed his eyes. It wasn't an odd thing for Cait to do, but Reeve didn't know why Cait did it. Cait may have looked like a little cat, but he didn't have any natural instincts that told him to behave like one. Reeve supposed that most of a creature's movements depended on how the creature was built. If Gast had created a human robot, he doubted that the robot would move on all fours the way an animal would. Humans had long legs and movement would be awkward if they didn't just go along with nature and walk on two legs. While Cait had been structurally built to be able to move freely upright on his two hind legs, he didn't do it very often. Most of the time Cait still moved on all fours, probably after realising that on four legs he was faster and his movements were less awkward. It would make sense. However, Reeve was still stuck on all of Cait's other traits that were so reminiscent of and actual cat. Cat's liked to curl up on top of high places and sleep for hours. Cait would often curl up on top of his Mog and close his eyes. He wasn't sleeping, while Cait needed to power down occasionally to replenish his energy supply, he didn't need to sleep. But he stayed up there for hours with his eyes closed, very reminiscent of a sleeping cat.

He chased little bugs, he batted the flowers, all very cat-like activities. In reality, Cait shouldn't be acting like that. All his behavioural protocol was contained within his initial programming, but the need to act any of it out would've only come out when he had acquired the necessary data from Reeve. Reeve was pretty sure that he himself had never felt the urge to chase bugs or play in the snow, so where was this new behaviour coming from? In fact the only place where it could possibly be coming from would have been his original programming. The programming was of Gast's design and Reeve wasn't entirely sure how it all worked. Sure he could build everything laid out in Gast's blueprints for Cait, but the understanding of each tiny little technicality was still holding him back. He was learning, just very slowly. It was entirely possible that Gast had programmed his primary behaviour chip with the basic understanding Cait needed to know how to move and act. It would make sense. Even at the times that Reeve had controlled Cait directly. Sure his commands and speech were coming from /his/ direct input, but he had found that each tiny movement that Cait was capable of had not come from him.

"You look deep in thought."

Reeve looked toward the source of the voice that had interrupted his musings to see Elena boost herself up to sit on one of the side benches. He supposed that if he had company for much longer he might actually have to get a few chairs. The lone stool he had was more uncomfortable that sitting on the floor.

"I was." He answered almost as a sigh. "I was thinking about Cait's behaviour lately."

Elena wiped at something on the arm of her white shirt distractedly. "Like what?"

Reeve opened his mouth to respond, but ultimately decided against it. If he tried to explain everything he had been just thinking about to Elena he would probably just end up sounding confused and muddled. Gods knew he hardly understood it himself.

"Nothing very interesting." He assured. "Just confusing myself."

She nodded in understanding. "I hate thoughts like that. Things you know are of importance, but are so complex that you can only give yourself a headache by trying to sort it all out. Take the whole of the Shinra Corporation for instance. I gave up trying to work out how that all functioned a long time ago."

Reeve smiled in amusement, glad that he wasn't the only one that thought like that.

"How do you mean?"

"The way things ran, the way that people dealt with them," she paused and gave up on her shirtsleeve, "the people themselves."

"The people? How were they confusing?"

"Okay, I'll admit that I didn't work underneath the former president for very long, but that man confused the hell out of me. A man so usually tight with expenses, to the point that he has the rates of mako hiked up so high that no person in the slums would actually be able to afford to pay them, spares no expense in sending out Turks, Soldiers and management into the field to find this mythological place named the Promised Land. He has no idea that such a place actually exists, only the word of a deranged psychopath that supposedly died five years previously, but he commits every thing and person under his command to seek it out. His son was even worse. Rufus never question his father's word on that particular plan. He even kept running with it after finding a rather large sword buried in his father's back."

She looked up from her little ramble to see Reeve's thoroughly amused expression and smiled.

"Sorry," she apologised, "I was a loyal Turk, I shouldn't be saying such things. The truth is that I never even thought about the ridiculousness of it all until I was no longer working for them. To naive at the time I suppose. But looking back on it all, I can't get over how insane it must have looked from the outside."

"I know what you mean." Reeve spoke up. "Unfortunately I was still working for them when I realised the insanity. I think it was around the same time they dropped the pillar that I really began doubting it all. I was hired to help look after that city and I couldn't take it when they destroyed part of it, not to mention the amount of lives that went with it. And when I got to see first hand what Cloud and his friends were trying to do.....I just....I finally realised that I was on the wrong side. Those people were heroes, in the truest sense of the term. Even when they had the chance to give up and simply go home, when their personal reasons for doing these things were taken care of and Shinra was buried, they still continued on and faced almost certain death to save lives. I knew then that this was how people ought to be, not the corrupt people I had been surrounded with. Had been myself."

During his little speech, Reeve had lost the amused look he'd had whilst Elena had been talking. His face bore such a serious expression that even Elena had lost her smile.

"You were one of those confusing individuals." Elena suddenly said. "You were one of the only people in the high ranks that seemed to have any common sense. Your priorities were always differing to the president's own agenda and I couldn't understand why the hell you just stood there and took everything thrown at you. Why didn't you just pack up and call it quits?"

That was an interesting question for Reeve, and it surprised him why he had never thought to ask /himself/ that before.

"I don't know." He answered truthfully. "Probably too scared to quit."

A soft beep echoed in the room signalling that the machine hooked up to Reno had finally completed its cycle.

Excusing himself he walked over to the bed and reached down to take the headband off Reno's head. Just as he touched it, Reno swiftly grabbed his wrist. So startled by the sudden move, Reeve instinctively tried to pull his hand away, but Reno's grip held him tightly. Slowly Reno opened one glazed eye to see who had disturbed him.

"Reeve?" Reno questioned groggily.

"It's finished." Reeve told him once he'd found his voice.

Reno nodded slightly and let Reeve go. He closed his eye and seemed to drift back to sleep.

Reeve hesitated for a moment longer before daring himself to reach back down and try and untangle the headband from Reno's head once more. 

Often Reeve found himself forgetting who these people were that he hung around with. Most of the time he just saw them as an ordinary group of people, his friends no less. Little reminders such as Reno's automatic reaction to his proximity bought him back down to earth very quickly. He had to question just what kind of person this was that he was about to make Cait into. In a truth Reno was a very skilled Turk. He stole, he killed, he was worse than a mercenary. Did he really want Cait to become like that?

He finally managed to get the headband off the other man without disturbing him again and he allowed himself a silent sigh of relief.

Still, with all that he had put Reno and Elena through, he wasn't about to really insult them and not use this new data. If it really didn't work out, he reasoned he could always remove the new information from Cait's programming there was no need to not even give it a try. Reno was a Turk, true. But it wasn't as if the man was a psychotic serial killer. Well, at least not unless someone paid him enough money to be one.

Head band and silver box in hand, he strode back over the other side of the lab to where Elena was sitting. Next to where she sat were the cables he needed to connect the device to Cait.

Elena sat quietly and watched him attach the cables for a few seconds before reaching down between them and grabbing his arm. It was the same arm as Reno had grabbed, but her touch was far more gentler.

"You're bleeding."

She held up his arm in the light and pointed out a small crescent shaped mark on his wrist.

Reeve's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "How did I manage that? I hadn't felt it."

Elena plucked a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at the small trail of blood that had begun to track its way down past his wrist. 

"It was probably when you tried to pull away from Reno. Trust me, until he's sure he knows who you are, he won't let you go, despite how much he has drank. The best thing to do with him is to throw something at him to wake him up before you venture too close to him." She finished dabbing and looked at the tiny mark closely. "I bet he dug a nail into you. Nothing too serious, just a little scratch."

"I didn't even feel it." Reeve repeated.

Elena looked up gave him an apologetic smile. "I should have warned you. You're lucky he didn't have his knife on him, not to mention his gun."

"You went over before and touched him," Reeve reminded, "and he didn't grab you."

Elena cast an eye in Reno's direction before settling her gaze back to Reeve. 

"Practise. Besides I'm a Turk too you know. I've been taught how to be sneaky."

It didn't really matter what she had just said to him, he hadn't been able to listen properly after she had said 'practise'.

Taking his wrist from Elena's grip, he finished with the cable and brought the device up to where Cait was laying. 

"Cait?"

Cait opened his eyes and raised his head in Reeve's direction.

"Yes Reeve?"

"I have some more data for you. Do you have the energy to upload now?"

Cait closed his eyes for a moment and tilted his head to the side. Reeve thought he looked rather like he was thinking. But he knew better. Cait was just accessing something in his filebank. He gave it a little more thought and realised that it was kind of the electronic equivalent to remembering something.

Finally Cait told him; "I have four hours of normal activity left, one and a half hours of hyper activity, six hours in downtime."

Cait got to his feet and arched his back before jumping off his Mog and wandering up the bench-top to meet Reeve halfway.

"Plenty of time." Reeve added.

He made a signal for Cait to turn around then set about plugging in the different leads.

"Why do you want to give me more?" Cait asked in a small voice, "Aren't I good enough?"

Reeve pat Cait tenderly and straightened the little red cape on his back. "You're fabulous Cait, really. I just want to give you everything I can is all. To give you the most out of life."

"Besides, you wanted to know how to use a weapon didn't you Cait?" Elena chimed in, "well, this will allow you to be able to."

"Maybe." Reeve added.

Cait blinked at the pair uncertainly for a second before shrugging and nodding. 

"Okay Reeve. I trust you."

Cait relaxed his body and closed his eyes. 

"Uploading."

As with before only a few seconds passed before the process was completed. He hardly had a chance to throw a tense look at Elena before Cait said;

"Upload completed."

Reeve motioned for Cait to turn again so he could remove the leads from his back. He wasn't sure why, but he knew he wasn't in a hurry to see if it had worked. His movements were slow and he was able to make the simple task of disconnecting Cait from the machine last a few minutes.

It was possible that he was afraid that he might have just created a small but skillful Turk that had the knowledge to build a mako reactor. Or it might have been because Elena had hopped down from the bench and was hanging behind him, eager to get a better look, and close enough for him to smell her perfume. Both he felt were ridiculous reasons, be he had to admit, the first seemed the most likely.

Finally the cables were free and he was able to close the panel on Cait and allow him to turn back to face them.

"How do you feel now Cait?" Reeve asked timidly.

Cait frowned and blinked a few times. "Fine."

Elena let out a small huff of irritation at the lack of response. "Ask him a question that Reno should know the answer to."

Reeve gazed over his shoulder to where Elena hovered, inches behind him. "What? Like how is the best and most efficient way to suffocate a man?" He asked dryly.

Elena didn't look impressed by the question so she tried one of her own.

"Cait? What kind of weapon would you like?"

It was a question she had asked Cait before, only then Cait had not known how to respond with his lack of weapons knowledge.

Cait pulled his eyes up to Elena, a small un-cat-like grin spreading across his features. Seeing a small cute cat grin like that, when normal cats weren't capable of it gave Cait a rather unsettling look. To Reeve it was almost as unsettling as how Cait responded to the question.

"A big one."

*********

__

notes: well well, no we are getting somewhere. Cait now has his second personality and my fingers are itching to type more on how the little guy is going to respond to Reno's input. Tee hee. I must admit, I really enjoyed writing about the little childlike Cait, but everyone has to grow up sometime and I suppose Cait just did. How he turns out is another story. Next chapter is on it's way so stay tuned. 

Something totally un-Superhero related---And don't forget the voting for Reno Vs Rufus closes this month so cast your votes!

Your words make my day, so don't be shy to write me, I don't bite much

AF

[anime_fearie@excite.com][1]

[http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/][2]

   [1]: mailto:anime_fearie@excite.com
   [2]: http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/



	4. Chapter 4

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 4 

            Cait watched the trio as they sat by one of the worktops discussing what Cait could only assume to be 'big people' talk. 

Cait rolled his eyes and leapt up onto of his Mog and curled up.

            _Let them talk.  I don't care._

_            In reality he did care.  He knew that they must have been talking about him.  What else did they have to talk about really?  He figured that unless there was a corpse on the front stoop he didn't know about, he was the latest interest on their minds._

            Curling up into his usual position, he rested his head lightly on his paw and kept an eye on the three people across the room.  Reeve seemed very reluctant about something that the other two were trying to talk him into.  Cait couldn't be sure, but by the snippets on conversation he'd been able to pick up, Elena and Reno were trying to convince Reeve into letting Cait own a weapon.  It was a subject that Cait agreed with whole-heartedly.

            _Stop being so protective Reeve, I'm not a little kid._

_            Cait's small mouth curved into a smirk as another thought hit him._

            _At least I know what a blowjob is now._

            The discussion across the room seemed to be going nowhere and Cait began to tire of their bickering.  He let his eyes fall closed and let his mind wander through all the new data he had just collected.

            He vaguely remembered Reeve telling him something about what the machine deemed appropriate for Cait to receive off the process.  Something about being able to siphon out skills from memory, allowing him to retain useful information without his mind being cluttered up with memories of things he'd never been through.  That in itself was confusing enough to think about.  But what had him most troubled was what the machine deemed as valuable data.  Obviously knowledge of what exactly constituted a blowjob shouldn't lie in the realms of a 'valuable data'.  He supposed it all depended on whom he was getting the information off.  After all he was sure that it wasn't as if Reeve didn't know what the act was, it was more likely that it was only Reno that considered such a thing as a 'skill' and therefore very valuable information for Cait to have.  

            Obviously the matter wasn't a particularly bothering Cait, but it was a good example of so many more things that now crowded his brain.  For instance, not only did he now know how to dismantle and reassemble a rifle in under two minutes, he also knew how many beers he would be able to consume before he could no longer be of service to the waitress he was trying to pick up and pass out.

            He could tend to a gunshot wound in a comrade, but he couldn't remember the basics of heating tinned beans without a recipe book or why he thought that the used-by date on the package was only a rough estimation and could be disregarded so long as you could still identify the product within.

            He knew six or seven different ways how to immobilise or kill a man with a single blow, but he couldn't understand why he knew that licking cream off your lovers body with a belly full of beer could give you severe stomach cramps.

            And to top it all off he had the most infuriating urge to have a cigarette.

            _Why in the name of Shiva's cold tit, do I need a cigarette?  Since when is a nicotine craving considered essential to live?_

            But obviously Reno thought it was or Cait wouldn't even be pondering such a crudely worded question.

            It was also disgusting to realise how many more words he knew.  None of them were particularly nice or flattering and Cait was positive a few of them were made up.  

            The decidedly 'Reeve' half of him was disgusted, Cait amended.  The 'Reno' half of him just wanted a stiff drink to cope.

            "Unfeeling pigfuckers." Cait grumbled to himself.

            Silence from across the room, then, "What was that Cait?"

            At the question from Reeve, Cait raised his head calmly and fixed the three of them with a disgusted stare.  

Cait cleared his throat. "I said; Unfeeling pigfuckers."  

            The reaction was more amusing than Cait could've imagined.  Reeve visibly blanched, Elena's eyes went wide and Reno looked as though he was doing all he could to not fall into a furious laughing fit.

            To cover himself he asked, "What did we do?"

            "Nothing."  Cait said calmly.  

            "Then why…?"

            "Doing nothing is exactly the reason why.  All you two care about is getting Reeve to allow me to have a weapon so I can become 'the science experiment with teeth', but not one of you has stopped to wonder how the hell I am coping with all that has happened.  I can tell you it's a lot to try and sort out on your own and I didn't appreciate being left to fend for myself with so little understanding of what is happening."

            Reeve seemed to regain his composure and take in all that Cait has said.  It was certainly the biggest amount of conversation to come from the little robot yet.

            "I'm sorry Cait.  It's a little hard to come to terms with myself.  How are you coping?"

            Here Cait frowned.  "If my wanting a cigarette and a stiff drink but being disgusted with myself for it is any indication then you'll know far more than I in what is going on."

            Reeve grimaced.  "This isn't going to work." He stated.

            "Woah, wait a second,"  Reno interrupted, "I didn't just go through all that for nothing.  So he's got a wider vocabulary, most six year olds nowadays know how to swear better than me."

            "He's right."  Elena put in, "He probably just doesn't understand the basic social controls yet, but he'll learn."

            "Who?  Reno or Cait?"  Reeve asked dryly.

            Elena gave him a look as if to say, _Good point. But she kept it to herself._

            "Just give it a little time." She said instead.

            Reeve reluctantly nodded and scowled up at Reno who got to his feet.  "And what was that about 'going through all that?'  Reno, you drank away my savings and fell into a comatose slumber."

            Reno just smirked down at his friend.  "And don't think it wasn't hard work."

            At that he left the other two and ambled over to Cait.  

            "So you want to talk, talk."

            Cait's eyes turned toward Reno and seemed to regard him with a disinterested air before finally laying his head back down and closing his eyes once more.

            "I'm not sure I want to talk to you."  Cait said quietly.

            "Why not?" Reno asked surprisingly insulted.  After all, part of his own brain had gone into making Cait what he was.  Why wouldn't he want to talk him?

            "I can't say I was happier before," Cait mumbled, "but I can say I was more ignorant." 

            "And that was better?"

            "For my own mental sanity it was."

            Reno seemed to ponder this for a while but Cait cut off the thought process before he could think about it too much.

            "Do you ever wonder why you drink so much Reno?"

            Finally seeming to find himself on safe well-trodden ground Reno smiled and leaned down to rest his elbows next to Cait on the Mog's head so he could look him in the robot's now opened eyes.

            "Because it's fun, because it helps you to unwind and bars are perfect places to pick up."

            "I think you are lying.  You mightn't know you are, but you are."

            Reno cast a glance back at his two friends, but they weren't paying attention to him or Cait, wrapped up in another argument with each other.

            "Oh please enlighten me."  The smiled never left his face.

            "Like I said; at least before I was ignorant.  I was ignorant of all the nasty little things that help you make your living Reno.  I know that Reeve isn't ignorant of those things, but knowing these things are important to you.  They help you in your work and your way of life.  To not know how things really work in your profession are to wind up dead.  But living with it all, knowing your own part in all of this is truly depressing and to be blissfully unaware of all of this, even for only a few hours is the only way to retain what little sanity you can.  To obtain this bit of ignorance you drink yourself into a stupor so you can forget, pretend you weren't even aware of it all.  That, Reno, is why I think you really drink."  Cait looked down at his paws and flexed them slightly, "And now I know why you would want to do that to yourself."

            The smile gradually slipped of Reno's face leaving the Turk with the most sombre look Cait had seen on the man before.

            "You spend a few hours with my mind and this is the bullshit you come up with?"

            Cait snapped out of his reflective mood and gave Reno a rather embarrassed look.  

"Well it _has only been a few hours. Did you expect a full psychological workup or just a casual observation?"_

            Reno's face seemed to darken at this.

            "Look I'm sorry Reno."  Cait pleaded, "I'm a little out of sorts.  It's a lot to take in, I didn't mean to make you angry."

            Reno looked at the small face and the almost comic way the little Cait's features were twisted in what was supposingly an apologetic look and all anger seemed to leave his body with a deep breath. 

            "S'ok Cait. I understand."

            Reno sighed and straightened, his gaze wandering over to the pair on the other side of the room.  

            "Maybe Reeve is right.  Maybe we should wait a little while before we take you out for a test bash with the weapon of your choice till your all sorted."

            "He usually is right."  Cait responded, his eyes following Reno's.  Then his eyes rested more firmly on Elena.  "Well about most things anyway."

            "What?"

            Cait opened his mouth to reply but thought better of it and shut it.

            "What?"  Reno repeated.

            Cait almost didn't answer the man.  He was about to just lay his head back down and keep quiet when the impulse suddenly fled.  

            "Well it wasn't a good idea using you as a test subject now was it?  If you were telling the truth before, and even if alcohol did affect me, what do robotic cats do for fun?  What, apart from the stress of dealing with your brain, does a robotic cat need to unwind from?  And what, in the name of Rumuh's windy bowels, would I pick up if I tried?  Even if I did find the right robotic cat for me," He continued sarcastically, "would I do with it?  Share my electric power cord with her, plug her in and tell her to feel the good vibes?  With all your habits Reno, you've managed to give me one hell of an itch that I couldn't scratch even if I tried."

            Reno was having a fight with a smile that was trying to set up residence on his face.  "Well when faced with a problem let the Reeve part of you take over."

            "What do you mean?"

            "Use logic to find an alternative solution to your dilemma. Something that I personally have never been able to do, but Reeve seems to be able to do faced with any problem."

            "Yeah?"

            "Yeah.  Look, the man worked for one of the nastiest companies ever to grace the earth.  No worse than that, he worked for Shinra Inc. Never in all the years I've known his was he a heavy drinker, smoker and, if the rumours are true, was one of the only men in the company that never had torrid flings with any of his co-workers."

            Cait cocked his head to the side and peered up and Reno with his luminous green eyes.  "You really respect him don't you?"

            Reno offered up his best bullshit smirk and turned it on Cait.  "I can respect any man who hasn't slept with Scarlet in a desperate drunken stupor."

            "I'll take that as a simple 'yes' then."  Cait remarked having no idea who or what Scarlet was.

                                                *************************

            Cait watched silently as Reeve continued to sleep.  Each deep breath causing the man's chest to expand and contract in rhythmic time.  The lines of worry that so often graced his face were smooth and relaxed so much so, that if it weren't for the first observation Cait might've started to think the man dead.

            "I wonder if he ever looks that peaceful awake?"  Cait asked himself.

            It was almost midday now.  The group had spent the entire night awake and had decided at around dawn to retire and try to catch up on whatever lost sleep they could.  Reno and Elena had wandered back to the Inn while Reeve had made a valiant attempt to stay up for a little while longer and talk to his creation.  After about half an hour though, despite Reeve's best intentions, Cait had begun to hear the weariness creep into Reeve's voice and had told Reeve that he needed some time to think on his own.  It was a pure lie.  He wanted to talk to Reeve about everything that was happening.  Cait just couldn't torture Reeve by talking about technical details to a man that hadn't had a good night's sleep in nearly two days.

            But as much as Cait didn't want to, the need was increasing that he wake him up before late afternoon. 

            His power supply was running low.

            Cait had tired to keep himself in low activity to stave off the power drain, but more often than not, just as he did, something in the room would catch his eye that looked interesting and fun to play with.  

            He remembered how hard it had been for Reeve to get Reno to sit still even for and hour and figured that his new found ability for easy distraction seemed to come from there.  

            Just as his mind was considering this, he caught sight of the children outside the window as they played in the snow and felt the sudden urge to go out and watch.  For a split second it didn't matter that Reeve forbade him to go outside without him much less in the daytime when he would be spotted easily. All that matter was the fact that he was bored and didn't like his chances of staving off that boredom if he were to stay inside.  

            He could wake Reeve up.  But Reeve would never agree to come outside with him.  After all, he hadn't in the past.

            Leaving the bedside Cait hopped up onto the windowsill.  Reeve had left the window open slightly allowing the cool mountain air to drift into the house.  All Cait had to do would be to slip through the narrow gap and he would be free to explore the outside world on his own.

            Just before he did so he caught sight of his own reflection in the smooth glass surface and stopped.  Undoubtedly he looked like a small black and white cat.  Nobody could call him a fish of something.  But Cait looked as much like a cat as a stuffed bear looked like a bear.  The likeness was there, but it wasn't a mirror reflection.  How would the townsfolk react to him?  If he tried he could probably pass himself off as a cat, but it was unlikely.  He wasn't sleek, he didn't meow.  Well he could meow, but since when did a true cat's meow actually sound like someone saying 'meow'?

            He tapped the windowsill with an extended claw in annoyance.  Not even his claws looked normal.  Though he had to give Reeve credit for the design.  Each individual claw would extend from his paw when he flexed them just right, but the fact that they were made from a gleaming silver metal did nothing to ease his current dilemma.  He didn't even own a set of teeth yet!

            If the townspeople took him for a monster creation what would he do?  Slash at them with metal claws under and inch long and gum them to death?  Shout obscenities at them and force his small body to pull off the moves Reno knew and were meant for humans to use?

            He might as well erect the stake and hand the good people a set of matches.

            Sighing heavily he backed away from the window and returned to Reeve's bedside.  

            "And you thought you didn't fit in anywhere."  Cait mumbled sourly to the unconscious man.  

            A split second later and Cait screwed up his face in confusion.  __

_            What the hell did that mean?_

                                                ***********************

            Reeve sat on the crest of a small hill overlooking the valley before him.  Wind swirled through the valley creating small dust clouds and light debris to be swept along with it.  The dust and debris arose from the ruin shell of the city that lay in the centre of the valley, halfway between him and the beach on the other side.  The centre of the valley seemed cloaked, as it always did here, in shadow no matter what the time of day.

            It was dusk now, and the warm orange light cast over the valley hit him full in the face, surprisingly warm yet cold at the same time.

            No wonder he felt the coldness still.  The ruins always seemed to have that effect on him.  The light from the failing sun could warm his skin, but couldn't warm his blood in the sight of such destruction.

            Midgar was lost.  In ruins.  Dead.

            And how many people did it take with it?  How many people could have been saved if he'd acted more quickly instead of cowering under the reign of his mad coworkers? 

            He reasoned that if he'd spoken up sooner, they would have just locked him up sooner and nothing would've gotten done.  But would Rufus have been so hasty to disregard him the way Scarlet and Heidigar had?  Maybe the man would've listened.  After all such advice might've saved his life.  But then that mightn't have been such a fantastic idea either.  If Rufus had lived, so would Shinra.  

            Weird how the death of one man could mean so much.  

            But there were another hundred or so that meant just as much to Reeve among the injured and dead.  And he couldn't help feeling almost personally responsible for each and every one.

            A soft inhuman voice sounded behind him.

            "Reeve."

            Reeve turned around to look for the source but could see nothing behind him.  

            Perhaps it was ghosts. He wouldn't have been surprised.  Not with the dead city spread out before him.

            "Reeve."  

            Louder this time more insistent.

            "Cait?"

            He opened his eyes to the sight of a pair of big green eyes staring straight into his own.  The shock of seeing them immediately upon waking was almost enough to make him fall out of bed with fright.

            "Reeve?"  Cait asked timidly.

            Reeve let his eyes fall closed again as his heart settled down its rapid beating.

            "How long was I asleep?"

            "Almost ten hours.  I didn't want to wake you but I can't work the generator by myself yet."

            Reeve groaned and nodded.  At the same time he felt as though he'd been asleep for weeks and minutes.  Either way he sure didn't feel like moving anytime soon.

            "How long?"

            "Another five minutes if I'm careful with my power."

            Again Reeve nodded and began to move.  He swept Cait into his arms and got to his feet in one fluid move and trekked over one of the computers by the door.  Under normal circumstances Cait might have argued the need for such treatment, but as things were his power shortage was hampering his movements enough.

            Reeve gently deposited Cait on the bench by the computer screen and started work on getting sufficient power through from the generator.

            "You know Cait, eventually I'll have to find a way for you to circumvent using the computer for this.  Suppose we end up somewhere I can't get the resources to power you up?"

            Cait turned his head slightly and stretched his neck.  "I'd be in deep shit."  He replied casually.

            "That's one way to put it."  Reeve replied dryly.  "Maybe I should make something a little more portable for emergencies."

            "Like a battery?  I'm not a walkman Reeve."

            "You're loud and mobile."  Reeve pointed out smiling.  "But basically yeah, like a battery."

            Cait considered this for a while but didn't offer a conclusive answer. Instead he asked;

            "What were you dreaming about before?  You didn't look very happy."

            Reeve's smile faded and was replaced by a look of sadness.  "A hundred or so meaningful lives."

            Cait didn't look as though he understood the answer but didn't question him further on the topic. Instead he moved round for Reeve to better access the panels in his back and sat down.

            "How about some teeth instead of a battery?"  Cait asked bringing the conversation back on track.

            "Teeth? I've already thought of that."  Reeve assured him.  "I'll try to finish then up by tonight if you'd like."  He finished attaching the cords.  "Okay that's it you can begin powering up now."

"Really?  Thankyou Reeve."

            Cait then shut himself down as his body began powering up.  

                                                *****************************

            "We have to go."

            Reeve stopped in his work and turned away from the bench in surprise.   

Both Elena and Reno had been with him in Icicle Village for so long, he found it hard to understand when they finally told him that they were leaving.

            Reno stood in the centre of the lab addressing him while Elena hung back behind him, her gaze fixed on the slumbering Cait while he was powering up.  Reeve thought he saw a look of sadness cross her face.

            "When?"  Reeve asked.

            "Day after tomorrow.  Rude seems to be having some difficulties in Wutai and he needs us there."  Reno told him with obvious reluctance.

            Reeve realised that this side trip had become something of a vacation for the two Turks and were both sorry to see it end.

            Reeve followed Elena's gaze to Cait, relieved that the little guy wasn't hearing this.  Cait seemed to like the extra company that the two Turks created.  With the three of them, Cait never had to be alone or bored.  He always had somebody to talk to when Reeve was working.

            Reeve himself was just as reluctant to see them go.  While they weren't exactly the most usual friends in the world, they were in fact his friends.  He hadn't really been affected by the isolation he had created for himself while he'd been working before they had come.  But after having constant companionship, he didn't know if he was quite ready to go back to being alone just yet.

            Sure Cait was always there to keep him company, but Reeve couldn't help thinking that maybe that was too close to being locked up with yourself for his tastes.  What possible lingering conversation could he hold with someone that knew everything he knew?

            An idea came to Reeve, so absurd that he nearly disregarded it instantly.  But after a few more seconds thought he realised that it was worth the shot to try.  After all, Cait had been bugging him for this very same thing ever since he had been able to think for himself.  Who knew when the next chance would arise?

            "Want some company?"

            Obviously Reno hadn't been expecting such a question and stood there for a few moments looking utterly confused before saying anything.

            "You want to come with us?"

            Reeve broke eye contact with Reno for a second in embarrassment.  

            _Of course they probably don't want me to come.  They are going to Wutai to work, not on a holiday!_

            "Well….not…I mean, if you don't think….I just….Cait…."

            Through Reeve's fumbling sentence Reno had started to smile.

            "So long as you don't mind me and Elena going off and doing a few work things.  Sure.  I don't mind."

            Elena was smiling also.

            "That's great!"  She blurted.  Then seeing Reno's amusement only grow she flushed and quietened.  

            "You taking the furball?"  Reno asked.

            Reeve nodded and smiled.  "My ultimate reason for wanting to go.  He wanted to see a bit of the world.  I just hope the world is ready to see him."

            Reeve had wondered how people might view Cait.  Whether people might think he was some kind of mako altered house cat and try to kill him.

            "He'll be fine."  Reno told him with a shrug.  "After all, didn't Cait bum around with Avalanche?  I don't remember you having any trouble with him then."

            It was a valid point.  Reeve remembered people casting a few odd glances at Cait then, but nobody had ever said anything.  Especially after seeing the company he kept with.  He had a feeling people would be just as reluctant seeing him with the Turks.

            "I guess you are right."  Reeve conceded.  "But I think I'll agree with you anyway and give him something to defend himself with.  Actually I've been looking through Gast's notes all day to see what I could make for him."

            Reno looked as though he'd just eaten something sour.  "Reeve, a weapon is a weapon.  You can buy any normal one at most shops, you don't need to make him one."

            Reeve grinned.  "I'm not going to give him anything 'normal'.  Just out of interest Reno, did you ever learn how to use a staff weapon?"

            "Sure.  Tseng taught us to use anything we might be able to pick up as a weapon.  Your going to make him a staff weapon?"

            "Something like that."

                        *********************************************

            "I don't know where they've gone Mr Ryder.  They haven't been back for a while."

            Ryder looked at the man in front of his desk with obvious annoyance.  The Turks had been gone from Junon for a while now and nobody seemed to know where they had gone to.  He'd heard rumours of people seeing them in Nibleheim, Wutai and some places up north, but nothing to indicate where exactly they were or, more importantly, what they were up to.

            For months now Ryder had been trying unsuccessfully to shut down the Turks' new organization in Junon.  Since they had come, Ryder's own organization had been losing jobs and therefore money.  Every time, it looked as though the Turks were able to do one better for the client and soon word had spread, making the Turks even more popular and sought after.

            This last disappearance could only mean one thing in Ryder's eye.  The Turks were on something big.  While Ryder would never confront the Turks face to face on territorial issues, he wasn't above trying to steal jobs out from under that cocky prick Reno.  Already Ryder had managed to take two plum jobs off the trio while they had been away, but he was more concerned that he was missing out on something bigger.

            "Last information had them up north.  Where was that exactly?"  Ryder asked.

            "Icicle Village Sir."  The man reported quickly.  "Victor said that there was some Shinra scientist staying up there."

            "Shinra scientist?"  Ryder asked surprised.  He'd never heard about this before.  Was that why the Turks were always able to get more jobs, because of better technology?  Ryder wouldn't have been surprised.  He refused to believe that the Turks were better than him otherwise.  After all, Ryder's group had been the top group in Junon…in the world before those three had turned up and started taking away all their clients.

            "I want some of our boys up there as soon as possible.  I want to know why the Turks were up there and what this Shinra scientist is doing."

            Hopefully the Turks had moved on by now, if they were ever there, and left this scientist to fend for himself. If push came to shove, stealing was also one of those things that Ryder didn't have any problems with.  

                                                            ****

Notes: Well hello actual plot.  I was aware that I had written three chapters without an extra backplot, but see look, I'm getting there.  Well Cait's about to go off onto to a new little adventure with the Turks and Reeve armed with a abnormal staff weapon (idea courtesy of Sa) and a new set of teeth.  I wonder if Wutai will cope? Teehee.

_Till next time_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor in Neo Midgar - _

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie_


	5. Chapter 5

A Different Kind Of Superhero

By Anime Fearie

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 5 

****

            Cait scrambled his way up into the cockpit.  Leaning against the controls currently in use he looked up at Reno and bestowed a rather toothy grin at the Turk in the pilot seat.

            "Hiya Reno."

            It could have been that Cait was in a good mood being on his first adventure out of the village.  Or it could have had something to do with the new set of teeth that Cait had found necessary to show off at anyone within grinning distance.  But the smile and buoyant attitude was immediately infectious and Reno soon found himself smiling back even though Cait had now made it twice as hard to steer the chopper back on course.

            "Hello Cait."

            Seemingly satisfied, Cait turned and scampered back into the main part of the chopper's interior and jumped up to sit beside Elena where the big toothy grin was used again, just on the off chance that Elena had missed seeing it the first dozen times.

            She hadn't, but she smiled back anyhow and gave him a quick pat, ruffling his fur.  She knew doing that annoyed him, but she couldn't help herself.

            Next on his list was Reeve sitting opposite Elena.  He leapt the distance between the two benches and turned up to face an annoyed look from Reeve.

            "Cait please sit still.  I have this horrible vision of you leaping out of the chopper at any moment."

            That obviously not being the response he had hoped for with his grin he turned it into a toothy scowl and flopped himself sullenly down onto the bench beside Reeve.

            "He's just excited."  Elena told Reeve.  

            "I know."  Reeve conceded.  "I just don't want him to hurt himself."

            Elena gave a little chuckle and smiled more broadly.  "The only thing he is going to hurt is perhaps a cheek muscle or two.  Relax Reeve, you're on vacation remember?"

            Totally bored with the conversation Cait turned his attention away from the two and picked up the small staff that lay next to him.  He had left it next to Reeve when they had first boarded, but since then Cait had found more interesting things to smile at and had left his new weapon in the good care of Reeve.

            He picked it up and twirled it around his paw with surprising dexterity.  He had been just as surprised as Reeve to learn that he was quite capable of handling the weapon and had enjoyed nothing more than threatening every piece of furniture in Reeve's house with it (after treating said piece of furniture with a big toothy grin first).  The novelty had faded, the furniture not putting up much resistance, with news of the upcoming trip.

            It wasn't a large weapon in the human realm of things, but it was more than suitable for Cait.  Standing a couple of feet above Cait's head when standing upright, he imagined he looked the part of a fierce warrior, even after Reno had commented that he looked more like a teddy bear armed with a twig.

            Cait had hoped that Reeve might allow him a weapon with a little more guts like a gun, but he had patiently explained to Cait that he hadn't animated him for the purpose of killing things and the weapon was purely meant for self defense.  In other words, Reeve didn't want him playing with anything grown up and Cait had to do as he was told.

            Cait stopped twirling the weapon and studied it a little more closely. By now he knew every inch on the precious staff, every materia slot, every wield, everything.  The design was simple, being what it was, except for a few little functions that Reeve had added for him.  Most of the added extras were still works in progress including a spinning materia wheel in the center.  While Reeve told him that he had other ideas for the interesting feature, for now the three piece materia wheel could be activated by a single button on the butt end of the staff.  When activated the materia slot would move one space locking one piece of materia into his weapon.  The basic idea being that Cait could carry up to three pieces of materia at a time but only be able to use them one at a time.  It was Reeve's idea that this was a safer way for Cait to use materia, having to only concentrate on one thing at time and not clogging up the length of the staff with slots.

            The truth of it was, that even though Cait knew how to use materia, Reeve wasn't entirely sure that a robot could use it.  And the less materia equipped at one time, the easier it should be for Cait to concentrate on it.

            To activate the rotation of the small wheel Cait only had to hit the base of the staff on the ground which he did now just to see it work.

            The other neat extra his staff had was simple.  A cap on the top end could be removed to open up a small, shallow hollow where Cait could secret a couple of small items.  A few pieces of materia, a couple of spare claws or, what Cait had in mind to buy once they reached Wutai, a small stack of ninja stars.

            Cait grinned at the thought.  He'd have to ask Reno to buy them for him.  The less deadly weapons Reeve knew about the better his health would be.  

            "Something amusing?"  Reeve asked suspiciously peering down at Cait.

            Cait immediately checked his facial expressions. "No.  It's like Elena said, I'm just excited."

            He hadn't really wanted to lie to Reeve, in fact the words had just popped out before he had realized he'd said them, but he didn't want to cause him worry either.

            Well it wasn't a total lie.  He was excited about the trip.  He was finally allowed to go out and explore the world, even if it was under Reeve's very watchful eye.  It was still terribly exciting. His only problem was when Reeve had told him that his Mog couldn't come.  Well that had put a dampener on the mood almost immediately.  Cait didn't want to explore without his Mog, it was like a safety blanket.  Cait saw himself as small and insignificant.  With his Mog he was tall and imposing.  Not only that but it was the only thing in this world that Cait felt was the same as him.  Sure the Mog didn't really do all that much anymore, but it was like him.  It was a robot, his kind.  And it was his.  

            Reno had spent most of the next day explaining to Cait that the Mog just simply wouldn't fit in the chopper, it was too big.  If Cait really didn't want to leave the Mog behind, he would just have to miss out on the trip to Wutai.

            Cait had immediately decided to say goodbye to his Mog.

            And he had.  He had sat in front of the Mog for at least an hour explaining to the huge lifeless robot why he had to leave him behind and how badly he felt about the whole idea.  The Mog couldn't have responded, even if had the capability to understand what Cait was saying to it.  Cait knew this but he had still gotten rather angry that he received no response to his heart felt goodbye speech.  Finally he had kicked the Mog roughly in its bulbous white body and stalked off muttering something about 'needed separation time'.  It wasn't till he was about to head out the door and over to the chopper that had reverently apologized to the Mog and promised to bring it back something shiny and Wutaian. 

            Cait sighed.  So what if the Mog didn't talk back.  Cait missed his Mog.

            Setting the staff down again he climbed into Reeve's lap and promptly curled up it a little ball, settling in for the remainder of the ride to Wutai.

                                    ***********************************

            Wutai was a wonder.

            But ten minutes into the city, Cait found himself dragging his feet.

            Walking on all fours as he was used to, his staff strapped down over his cape by a thin leather strap across his chest, he had entered the Wutaian streets with barely contained excitement and awe.  

            He was greeted with astonished stares and panic stricken mothers herding their children away from the black and white monster in their city.  Cait couldn't understand it.  Hadn't Reeve directed Cait into this city before?  Hadn't the people already seen him?  If they had, they obviously didn't remember.

            One small curious child had walked up to Cait and smiled at him.  Cait, of course had smiled back with enthusiasm.  

            "Hello."  Cait had greeted, "I'm Cait."

            At the sound of his voice and the sight of his teeth the little boy had lost his nerve and gone screaming back to his mother's side.

            His thrill for being in a new place now completely squished into a bloody pulp, Cait had kept himself in between Reno and Reeve, his eyes on the road in front of him, downcast.

            The group stopped in front of a large building, apparently their destination.  A large bald man stepped out from the shade of the building and walked up to the group.

            "Took your time."  He said addressing Reno.  "Godo was about to hire some of the local boys to get the materia back."

            "I'm surprised he hasn't already sent Yuffie."  Reno returned with a sour look.

            Obviously, this was a friend of Reno's, Cait was sure.  Maybe he wouldn't therefore be like the others and run away from him.  He was adamant that his first trip was not going to be ruined so easily.

            He tottered up to the bald man, who had still not noticed him, and tugged gently at his pant leg.

            "Um, excuse me?"

            Rude looked down at the small cat with not the faintest hint of emotion say for one slightly raised eyebrow.

            "Hello."  Cait greeted adding a small formal bow, "I'm Cait Sith. How do you do?"

            Adjusting the shades on his face a fraction he said, "Peachy Cait. My name is Rude."

            Cait blinked at the name.  "Rude?  That's a rather weird name.  Did your parents think you were a little impolite?"

            Reno laughed slightly and shook his head with amusement.  "Rude's a Turk Cait.  Be careful what you say."

            Cait's expression turned a little troubled.  He hadn't realized he'd offended the bald man.  In fact he looked a little amused himself.

            "Is Yuffie around?"  Reeve asked Rude.

            "Yeah, I told her you were coming.  She's out back."

            Reeve nodded in thanks and looked down at Cait.  "Want to meet Yuffie?"

            Cait readily agreed and followed Reeve around the building till they came to a wide clear patch of grass surrounded by gardens.  In the center of the grass was a girl sitting cross legged, a picture of concentration marking her young face, eyes closed.  As Reeve got closer, the girl seemed to snap out of her meditation and fix her eyes on the disturbance.

            "Reeve?"

            Reeve was glad that she remembered him.  After all Yuffie had only met Reeve once after Sephiroth had been destroyed on the Highwind.  And he was perfectly aware that he had changed some since that time.  He had harbored fears that the girl wouldn't recognize him.  After all he knew he would have been able to spot Yuffie anywhere.  He had seen her through Cait during their adventures almost 24hrs a day for almost a month.  But she had not seen him.  She had seen Cait.  The real hero, not the person behind him.

            Reeve smiled.  "Hi Yuffie.  How are you doing?"

            Yuffie made a vague gesture to her position and shrugged.  "Dad thinks I need  more meditation.  He thinks I'm too…what was the word?  Fidgety."

            Reeve's smile grew.

            "So watcha up to?  Rude told me that you were coming with the other Turks.  You in the Turks now or something?"

            "No, nothing like that.  They have been helping me out with a few things."

            Reeve motioned beside him, drawing Yuffie's eyes down to the small fury thing standing just behind Reeve's left leg.

            Getting to her feet she came over to Reeve for a closer look.

            Seeming to realize that Yuffie wasn't going to run away screaming either, Cait stepped out from behind Reeve's leg and bowed to the young woman as she walked over. 

            "Hello.  My name is Cait Sith. How do you do?"

            Yuffie stopped walking, her face showing a puzzled look.  "Cait? But weren't you….?"

            "I've been busy."  Reeve answered simply, smugly.

            Yuffie crouched in front of the little cat and poked him with a forefinger.

            "Hey!" Cait cried indignantly.

            "You mean no one is controlling him?"  Yuffie asked, surprised.  "What can he do?"

            Reeve went to answer but Cait beat him to the punch.  Drawing himself to his full height (about 2ft) he puffed out his chest in his most auspicious manner.

            "Evidently I can do more than you.  At least /I/ talk to a person's face instead of being rude and talking over them."

            "His behavior needs some work." Yuffie commented casually poking him again.

            A small growl came from down beside Reeve, telling him that Cait had almost had enough of the girl.  Reeve hadn't spared a thought to how Cait might react to annoyance.  Neither he nor the Turks had really managed to get on Cait's bad side since he'd been 'born' and it hadn't occurred that the small robot might react harshly to something he was unaccustomed to.

            Reeve crouched beside Cait and pet his head reassuringly.  But the cat wasn't paying attention.  His eyes were narrowed at the young ninja woman, almost daring her to touch him again.  

            Yuffie hadn't seemed to notice the little growl and continued to peer at Cait quizzically as if trying to figure out how the thing worked.

            "Can he fight?"  Yuffie asked abruptly.

            "I don't…"

            "Bet your ass.  Want to find out?"  Cait returned baring his teeth at her.

            "He wants to fight /me/?" Yuffie asked Reeve incredulously.

            "You know Yuffie,"  Reeve sighed, "You can talk /to/ him.  He's perfectly capable of understanding and answering."

            "He's a robot isn't he?"  Yuffie said as if it explained all.

            "Yes.  But…."

            "And I'm not fighting a robot cat that doesn't even come up to my knees Reeve. That's just weird.  You know if you were going to make a fighter, you could have at least made something a little more intimidating."

            Cait went to take a menacing step toward Yuffie, but Reeve caught hold of his cape just in time.

            "He'd be better off fighting Shake." Yuffie continued, "at least the height factor wouldn't be an issue.  Shake isn't as good as me, but I'm sure even that little squirt would be more than a match for this little thing."

            "Wanna make a bet?"  Cait challenged gamely.

            "Cait hush.  Yuffie…."  Reeve started.

            "Okay bring the little cat thing to the temple tomorrow.  Bet it'll be entertaining anyway.  Dad won't let me go after the thief with the others, this might at least take up five minutes of my day. We'll mark it as a display match. Man versus machine"  Yuffie smiled at Reeve and nodded back toward the house.  "Wanna stay for dinner, we can catch up on old times."

            Reeve looked down at the infuriated Cait and shook his head in the negative.  "Thanks, but I was going to take Cait around to look at a few of the sights.  But I'll come to visit tomorrow if you'd like?"

            Reeve was pretty sure he could convince Elena or Reno to look after Cait for a few hours at least.  He sure wasn't going to bring him back to see Yuffie again.

            "Well, I'll see you at the temple tomorrow anyway right?"

            "I don't think…"

            "You're on." Cait interrupted firmly.

            Yuffie got to her feet and began walking toward the house.  "See ya."  She called back over her shoulder.

            "Yeah 'bye." 

            He turned his attention back toward Cait and gave him that stern parental look again.  

            "Cait what did you just do?"

            The angry look seemed to slip off Cait's face at the question.  The whole scope of what he had just committed himself to finally sinking in.  Now he looked a little scared.

            "I….don't….know…."

                        ****************************************

            "I'll make up some excuse."  Reeve decided amidst his pacing in the small Inn room.

            "Why?"  Reno asked from his position half slumped up against the wall, sitting on the bed.  "You said he should have all my weapons knowledge and training.  He'll be fine.  It's that little shorty Shake you should be worried about, right Cait?"

            Cait was next to Reno in an almost mirror position, his brow furrowed in deep contemplation.  

            "Sure."  He muttered unenthusiastically.

            "Reno, I didn't fix Cait up to have him fighting stupid little battles for Yuffie's amusement.  The damage he might incur wouldn't be worth the risk."

            "Oh c'mon. Cait has knowledge of Turk training techniques and that little bastard…"

            "Is a warrior in Wutai's great temple."  Reeve finished.  "You shouldn't be so hasty to discredit somebody's abilities."

            "You shouldn't be so quick to discredit mine."  Reno returned.   

            Reeve stopped pacing and rubbed a weary hand over his eyes.  "I'm not Reno.  But it's a different thing to go through training yourself than remembering skills Cait's never tried to use of his own.  I'll just tell them that Cait's having some technical problems and call it off."

            "No."

            Reeve looked at Cait in surprise.  "What do you mean 'no'.  You can't agree that this is a good idea."

            Of course Cait didn't think that this was a good idea.  It was a stupid fight he'd gotten himself into in a fit of arrogant rage.  It was stupid, it was impulsive and it definitely reeked of the 'Reno' side of him.  That in itself told him what a bad idea it was.  Reeve was right, he'd never been in anything like this before.  He'd already had doubts that whatever training he 'remembered' he wouldn't really be able to pull off. He wasn't Reno, he might seriously hurt himself.

            But he wasn't sure if backing out was the answer either.  He knew that any excuse Reeve could give them would be seen through immediately.  He realized this, and he was fairly certain that Reeve did as well.  Reeve wasn't so proud as to give into stupidity.  But Cait knew that Reeve was secretly eager to show people what he had created and how superior his handiwork was and that by backing out he was telling people that he really wasn't so good.  That after all his work his accomplishment still had many limits.  Of course Reeve would never admit to any of this.  He was far too concerned for Cait's well being to subject him to any petty fight.  Cait wanted to prove to him that he was everything Reeve wanted him to be.  That he was capable.  More than capable, that he was excellent!  He didn't want Reeve to think of himself as a failure.

            There was, however, another part of him that wanted to show that insensitive bitch Yuffie that he wasn't just a toy and something that could be talked over and ignored.

            "Maybe it /is/ a good idea."  Cait lied.  "I don't want to get into a position where it might mean death if I fail.  This way we'll know what I can do in a little competition before somebody tries to stick a knife into me for real."

            "Cait, Reno wasn't there when Yuffie was going through her tests in the temple.  These people are for real.  They won't try to annihilate you, but a well directed hit to your head and you may loose all the information you've uploaded.  Essentially you, how you are now, might die."

            "I have faith in you Cait."  Reno told him.  "How can you lose?  You have my training and Reeve's intelligence,"  He proclaimed proudly, "you'll beat that stubby little pipsqueak into the ground."

            "I give up!"  Reeve said throwing his hands up into the air.  "You two are as bad as each other!"

            Reeve turned his back on the two and stalked off and out the door, his loud footsteps echoing down into the main floor of the Inn and the bar below it.

            "Is he really mad?"  Cait asked meekly.

            "He's concerned."  Reno amended. "He just doesn't want to see you hurt."

            "I think I'd let him down more if I didn't do this.  I want to go and win and show everybody that I'm not as laughable as I look and that Reeve hasn't spent all this time working on a stupid doll that can do nothing but walk and talk."  Cait confessed.  "But I'm scared.  What if I do get hit hard enough?  I'll loose my mind, everything that is me."

            "If you're anything like me Cait, your head should be pretty thick."

            Cait looked up at Reno wryly.  

            "I was just joking."  Reno protested at the look.

            "You're about as subtle as Bahumut's breath Reno.  Despite what you said to Reeve earlier, you don't think that this is a good idea either do you?  You think I'm being stupid. Thick headed, as you said."

            "I knew you'd do it no matter what either of us said.  It was mainly for everybody's piece of mind. But it doesn't mean I don't have faith in you.  I just think you would've been better off practicing with one of us rather than rushing into this."

            "Thanks for that."

            "Look, tonight we can practice.  By tomorrow you'll be a mean fighting machine,"  Reno looked at Cait's expression, "And not just a cheesy grin."

                        ************************************

            Elena and Rude entered the Inn and looked around expectantly.  Both were astonished to discover their leader absent from the bar.  Reno had left them earlier to check out a lead elsewhere in the city but he should have been back by now.  In fact Reno would've gotten back a good hour or so before Elena and Rude finished at Godo's house.  It was half the reason Elena expected he had gone to check it out.  Therefore Elena had fully expected to find the familiar face of her boss amongst the thinning crowd of the bar, already partially drunk and chatting up one of the waitresses.  But no, no redhead in a blue suit could be seen anywhere and all of the waitresses seemed accounted for.

            Elena shot Rude a questioning look but Rude merely shrugged in response.  After all, Reno's behavior was anything but predicable, even to his two closest friends.

            After a moment more Rude inclined his head slightly toward one of the back tables where a familiar dark haired man was sitting by himself staring depressingly into an almost empty whiskey glass.

            "Give me a moment will you, I want to go see what's up with Reeve.  Can you fill Reno in if you find him?"

            Rude nodded and started off toward the stairs.

            Elena crossed the bar and took a seat opposite Reeve.  Reeve didn't look up.

            "You look like somebody just told you the sky was falling."  Elena remarked.

            "Cait's going to challenge one of the temples warriors tomorrow."  Reeve told her sullenly.  

            "So I heard."  Elena replied calmly.

            At this Reeve looked up.

            "Yuffie told us."  Elena clarified.  "Told us we could come and watch tomorrow.  Asked if we could invite Reno along as well.  I think the poor deluded girl has a bit of a crush on him."

            "It would be like Yuffie to get a crush on a guy who's repeatedly tried to kill her in the past."

            Elena only had to agree. She had also noted that Reno had noticed the extra attention Yuffie had been giving him every time he was in Wutai.  That, Elena suspected was the other reason Reno hadn't stuck around today at Godo's.  

            "So I take it you aren't thrilled with the notion of Cait going to the temple tomorrow."

            "You could say that."

            Elena was a little surprised at Reeve's current mood.  Sure she knew how unhappy Reeve would be at the prospect of Cait getting into a tough fight.  But Reeve just never seemed to be the kind of person to get drunk and depressive no matter what.  The sight was actually more disturbing that she would have thought.  Obviously alcohol wasn't Reeve's friend at times like this.

            Elena stood up.  "Are you coming?"

            Reeve's brows drew together in confusion.  "Where?"

            "Your friend Yuffie keeps boasting about how great the city looks of a night from Dao Chao.  I've never seen it."

            "You want to go climbing up mountains paths of a night because you heard the view is good?"

            Elena nodded.  "Not the healthiest thing to do.  Gods know that if I go by myself and have an unfortunate accident I might end up killing myself.  But that's why I'm taking you."

            Reeve got to his feet with a bit of a wobble.  "Please remember that I thought this was a bad idea."

****

"She was right."  Elena admitted tacking a seat on the hard stone.  "It is beautiful."

Reeve nodded in agreement and sat beside Elena.  They were sitting on the stone hand of one of the great statues that covered the face of the mountain.  Reeve was actually surprised Elena had chosen this spot to sit.  Looking up behind where they currently sat, Reeve could see the face of the statue where Don Corneo had hung Elena and Yuffie up while he chose which one of them he was going to chose first.  The memory even caused Reeve to shudder at the thought of that sick perverted slob Corneo.  He didn't know how Elena could stand it.

"Something wrong?"  Elena asked watching Reeve's face.

"Just remembering things."  Reeve answered vaguely.

But Elena seemed to guess what he was thinking anyhow.  "Honestly it doesn't bother me.  Not anymore.  There are worse things that can happen in this world, working for the Turks taught me that."

"I don't know why you ever chose to be a Turk.  I mean you just don't seem the type."

"No good enough?"  Elena asked mildly insulted.

"That's not what I mean.  I've known both Rude and Reno for a long time, and I know what they are like. Being a Turk is all they seem to know and I know that they like their work.  Reno especially has that ruthless determination that seems to be a pre-requisite in the job.  What I said before was a compliment Elena, at least how I see it, it was."

"What about you?  Are you really the usual kind of Shinra Executive?"

Reeve frowned.  "I should hope not."

"But it didn't stop you from being one did it?"

Reeve sighed.  "Point taken. I was only trying to be nice."

"I know, I'm sorry.  I know you're nervous about tomorrow."

At the reminder about the bout the next day Reeve groaned and leant back on his hands.  

"Surely it isn't all that bad?" Elena tried again.  "I mean Cait is…"

"A robot with untested skills that isn't really fully completed yet.  A robot that is going to go to the great temple of Wutai tomorrow and challenge one of the warriors there.  If he loses he runs the risk of losing all the information he has gathered so far and render his body useless and unfixable. If he wins we may suddenly have a little more attention drawn to ourselves.  I mean what if they think that Cait looks like an interesting little weapon? Never have I ever wanted to become a weapons dealer and I don't plan on starting to become one now."

"Understandable.  Still you have to admit that it would be pretty special if he did win.  I mean essentially Cait is your creation," Reeve opened his mouth to protest but Elena cut him off, "No you are the person that made him work so don't give me this shit about Gast okay.  Wouldn't it be such an ego trip to see your own creation take out a member of one of the most renowned groups in the world? I mean you can't tell me that that wouldn't be at least a little tiny bit satisfying. And gods!" Elena exclaimed grabbing Reeve's arm with the sudden thought, "can you imagine the look on Yuffie's face when your little Cait totally blows all her expectations away?  I don't know about you but that is a seriously interesting thought."

Reeve smiled at Elena's enthusiasm.  "Yuffie /is/ my friend."  Reeve reminded.  "Do you really think I would take pleasure in proving her wrong?"

"At least a little bit."  Elena snickered.

"Well maybe a little bit."

"Cait Sith!" Elena proclaimed, "The great hero! Yuffie will be so embarrassed."

"Great hero."  Reeve repeated.  "He was a great hero even before we came here.  He was part of Avalanche remember?"

Elena quieted down and let go of Reeve's arm.  "Cait wasn't really the one that was part of Avalanche.  That was you."

"Not really.  After all it's easy to be brave when you're not the one facing the actual physical danger yourself. It was Cait that did that, whether he was aware of it at the time or not.  I was just that Shinra guy who did nothing but sit back and watch the company go down the toilet."

Elena looked at Reeve's troubled face and realized that this was something he had been thinking about for a while now.  Did it really bother him that much that he had been on the side of Shinra when everything was happening?  That he was forced to play spy against his will?  Obviously it did.

"Reeve, you didn't just sit back and do nothing. You.."

"Waited until the last minute before making a stand and got thrown into the brig for my troubles. Yeah some great hero."  Reeve grumbled.  "I used to watch the members of Avalanche through the eyes of Cait.  How they acted, how they felt, everything.  At first I was loyal to the company and I just looked at them like criminals.  These people blew up parts of Midgar. They were responsible for the deaths of quite a few people and the only excuse they gave was that it was for the good of the planet.  I thought they were naïve.  Brave undoubtedly, but naïve all the same.  But you only had to spend a couple of days with these people to realize that what they were doing was the right thing and it was Shinra who was wrong.  More wrong than I had ever imagined.  I got to thinking that if I helped these great people, that I would therefore be a great person myself.  But that wasn't true.  I was never one of the heroes.  I was the double-crossing bastard that used to hide behind a robot rather than risk my own neck.  Cait was the true hero, I was not."

Elena gazed at her solemn friend for a long time, unsure on how to respond to that outburst. Finally;

"Surely you don't really believe that?" She asked quietly.

"Why not? It's the truth."

"But I…."

Reeve just waved her off, "It's alright, and you don't have to try to cheer me up.  I know how things go."

"Evidently not."  Elena muttered.  

**********

Notes: Whew that was a long chapter.  Anyway Cait is in Wutai and already he's in a fight.  I know Sa that you thought it would be really cool if Cait and Yuffie were to get along (Ace told me don't worry I'm not telepathic) but I thought it might work better this way, at least for the moment.  I wanted the big important fight thing and Yuffie presented opportunity. Well at least that short ass Shake did.  Teehee this is gonna be FUN!!!  And yeah I did kind of cut off the Elena and Reeve scene at the end.  I have plans for that particular conversation but not until nearer to the end.  But gosh, aren't they just becoming best buddies!

'As Subtle as Bahamut's Breath,'

AF

anime_fearie@excite.com

All my stories can be found on the 70th Floor Office in Neo Midgar

http://www,geocities.com/anime_fearie/


	6. Chapter 6

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 6 

*****

            "Remember, there is no shame in kicking the stubby little shit in the groin to get him out of your face."  Reno advised sagely.

            Cait stopped staring at the conversation across the room from them and turned a distasteful look upon the red-headed Turk. He didn't voice his opinion on that piece of advice, not wanting to question Reno's morals and somehow offend him.  He didn't have to, Reeve had turned his own look of disgust onto Reno.

            "A little unethical, don't you think Reno?"

            "It's just a last resort thing."  Reno obviously lied.

            Cait shook his head and turned his attention back toward the people just out of earshot of him and the Turks.  He recognized the girl named Yuffie he had met yesterday and from Rude and Elena's comments earlier, the solid aging man next to her was her father, Lord Godo.  Cait got a sudden attack of nerves when he'd found that out.  He was going to be fighting in front of the Lord of Wutai? Not only that but all of the warriors of the temple had gathered on this floor of the temple, eager for the day's entertainment.  

            _Entertainment._

            Here Cait was worried about killing his brain with this fight, and everybody else only saw it all as some kind of show.  Mechanical versus human.  If Cait was capable, he would have been sick. This was not some street performance, this could mean his life! Couldn't it?   Reeve had told him as much and he had always trusted what Reeve told him.  Well at least where it really counted. Was he, Cait, really that brittle that one good shot in the right place would render Cait as good as dead?

            Cait knew Reeve.  Would Reeve really have left him with such a vulnerable zone without taking precautions to insure Cait's safety?  At the very least make him a little harder to break. Maybe, maybe not.  After all, Reeve had been against him doing anything like this in the first place.

            Confused, disgusted and scared, Cait just sat there and waited.  

*

            Reeve watched Cait with concern.  The little cat looked as though he was preparing to face a firing squad rather than a friendly little bout.  While he doubted there was anything truly friendly about the intent of the Wutaian warriors, it was still far from a serious battle.  Still Reeve found himself staring at Cait with as much concern as Cait watched the group of people across the room.

          He felt an elbow in his ribs and turned to find Reno standing there with a mixed look.  Obviously he had caught the look Reeve had been giving Cait.

            "He's nervous."  Reno whispered.  "All that stuff you told him about last night has got him scared.  Maybe you should give him a little pep talk.  Nothing I say to him seems to make much of a difference."

            Reeve looked at Reno in confusion.  Under normal circumstances Cait would have listened to each and every word the Turk said to him. Reeve guessed it had something to do with Cait trying to understand his own new views on things after Reno had undergone the process for him. Things and views that only Reno would know about and understand.  Since that time the two often talked for hours on this and that, more time than Cait spent with either Elena or himself in fact.  He was surprised to learn that Cait wasn't listening to Reno now.  Although, Cait probably knew that, knowing Reno meant that Reno was not always to be trusted. Especially about things of great importance.

            He was about to move closer to Cait to speak to him when they were interrupted by Lord Godo crossing the floor to meet up with their little group.

            "When my daughter told me about this plan of hers I was a little dubious to let her go ahead." He began speaking directly to Reeve, then casting a glance toward Cait.  He sounded rather pleased.  "However once I heard the particulars I was quite enthusiastic about the idea.  For years before Shinra's destruction, our people have been worried about the appearance of these techno soldiers that our spies told us about and whether our warriors would be able to deal with such a threat.  Now obviously Shinra doesn't pose a threat to us any longer," smugly, "but whose to say that some other maniac might not develop something of the sort in later times?"

            Reeve's expression grew dark at this.  Were they insinuating that Reeve was some lunatic bent of creating and army of robots to threaten the planet?

            Lord Godo saw this look. "Now now Mr. Reeve, I have no belief that you would be the one to do such a thing." He gestured toward Cait, "I have seen your little cat robot before and am not inclined to think that such a creation is world domination material, even though he /is/ quite impressive.  Despite what my daughter believes, I have been watching him for the past half hour, and thus far I am quite impressed.  Is there nobody controlling him?"

            "No my lord."  Reeve answered quickly.

            "Good good. This will be quite a demonstration and hopefully enough to put certain fears to rest.  Does he have any combat experience?"

            "Nothing first hand."  He answered carefully. "He wasn't created for battle."

            "Well that is quite a hobby you have for yourself there Reeve.  Quite impressive." Godo repeated.  "Well are you prepared?"

            Reeve had a sudden inspiration.  "You might like to ask Cait, my lord. He would know."

            Godo looked at little taken back by the suggestion, but eventually he smiled and hunkered down, very un-royal-like, next to Cait.

            "Are you prepared Cait?"

            Cait's luminous green eyes widened with the question.  Perhaps because it meant that it was almost time, or perhaps because of who was asking.

            "Y-yes m'lord."  He said quickly performing an impromptu bow toward the lord.  "May I ask a question before we begin?"

            Godo smiled more warmly, amused by the intriguing toy before him.  "Of course."

            "Who am I fight…er….demonstrating with?"

            "Shake of course.  My daughter didn't want to be unfair.  Shake is quite good of course, but there are stronger men and woman at the temple that might have not been such a welcome match for you."

            Reeve heard Reno mutter something about being height-ist but all present chose to ignore him.

            Godo straightened up and returned to the other side of the room, apparently informing the others that the combatants were ready.

            "That's not what I asked." Cait muttered.  "I already know the guy's name, I wanted to know which one he was."

            Cat got his answer a minute or so later when a small boy(?) walked out into the middle of the floor and took up his position.  Shake looked about as pleased at the prospect of fighting Cait as Cait was of fighting him.  The difference was though, that Cait was like that out of fear, Shake just looked like somebody was insulting him.  He wore a look of serious annoyance coupled with impatience. 

            "That's Shake?"  Cait asked with astonishment.  "He's hardly much bigger than me!"

            "Don't let looks fool you."  Reno told him.  "He's a vicious little squirt. He's fast too. Plus he'll probably pull that transform shit on you to give him more speed.  Still speed doesn't always mean agility, you'll have him beat there.  And he doesn't use any weapons."

            "Thanks for the confidence booster." Cait grumbled.

            "All spectators clear the floor please."  Godo called from the center of the floor.

            The three Turks retreated back to the sidelines while Reeve lingered a little longer next to Cait.  

            "Cait. What I said last night…"

            "Yeah I know I know, watch my head and the panel on my back or I'm dead.  I heard you the first twenty times."

            Cait tugged his staff free from the strap on his back and checked to make sure all his material was still where he placed it this morning.  Fire, Lightening and Ice. Basic elemental materia. 

            "About that,"  Reeve started again, chastised from Cait's rant, "I may have over exaggerated a tad.  I just didn't want to see you get hurt.  But deep down I know you'll do fine.  You've been taught well, well Reno has been taught well, you can think quickly, act quickly.  You'll show him up, I know it. Good luck."

            Cait blinked up at Reeve in surprise, unsure of how to respond.

            Reeve smiled gently at Cait before retreating to stand back by Reno, Elena and Rude.

            "I heard that."  Reno told him leaning across.  "You lied to him."

            "Mostly."  Reeve conceded.  "But he doesn't know that."

            Elena grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.  "He'll be fine.  You did a good thing."

            The simple feel of Elena's hand in his did a lot to sooth his nerves and he smiled at her.  "I know."

*

            Cait was so caught up in what Reeve had told him that he hadn't been paying attention to what was going on in the center of the floor.  Hastily he pulled himself together and scrambled over to where Godo and Shake were waiting for him.

            One look at Cait up close and Shake shook his head, clearly embarrassed.  

            "Now I know what people think when then go to fight me." He muttered under his breath.

            Both Godo and Cait heard the comment though.  Cait shifted his staff to his other hand uncomfortably and stared at the ground.

            Godo said; "And like most people that underestimate you, I'm sure you will also be in for a surprise."

            Cait couldn't tell, but it sounded as though Godo was actually enjoying this.

            "Now," he continued loud enough for all in the room to hear, "this demonstration match is not a fight to the death.  The participants do this of their own free will,"  here Shake cast a rather irritated look toward Yuffie who merely shrugged and smiled, "and is only being allowed in the great temple because of the interest that the match-up has sparked.  Weapons are allowed as are transformations, materia and some projectile weapons.  Either participant can end the fight at any time, otherwise it will end when I say so."

            Once that had been said, Lord Godo retreated to the head of the room, beyond the floor space needed for the bout.  It was at this point that Cait finally realized that it was about to begin.  This was it.  It was time to see if he was really good enough.  He almost lost his nerve right then but he was interrupted by Lord Godo's loud voice announce; "Begin."

            Cait clutched his staff firmly in his left hand, keeping his eyes nervously on Shake.  Then when it didn't feel right, he switched the staff to his right hand.  That didn't feel right either.

            _What the hell?  Have I forgotten if I'm left handed or right handed?_

            But of course Cait had never really known.  Recalling training with Reno last night, Cait had hardly used the staff, not wanting to run the risk of accidentally hitting the Turk too hard.  When he had practiced with it before back at Icicle Village when accosting the furniture, he had gripped the staff with both hands, mucking around.

            It was a fine time to become aware of this fact.

            "Aw fuck."

*

            "What wrong with him?"  Reeve asked anxiously.

            Reno shrugged and scratched his head.  "Dunno.  Doesn't look like he even knows how to handle the thing.  I don't understand it." Then; "Ahhh, that's better," as Cait switched the staff back into his left hand. But it was short lived as Cait switched hands again, Reno scowled. "That's not right."

            "What isn't?  Why was it better when he was holding it in his left hand?"

            "Well, I just assumed.  You know, 'cause I'm left handed."

            Reeve suddenly realized what the problem was.

            "He's confused.  He doesn't feel comfortable.  I'm right handed.  He's remembering both and getting confused because of his anxiety."

            "Aw fuck."

*

            Shake eventually seemed to overcome his reluctance and drew himself up to his full height.

            "Okay cat, I'll try not to hurt you too much."

            With that, he made a lunge toward the unsuspecting Cait. Cait had little time to react and looked up it time to see Shake throw a powerful kick at his midsection.  While Cait didn't exactly feel any pain from the impact, and he knew normally it should have hurt, the blow jarred him and forced his small body backward.  Cait went skidding back.  His grip on the staff was lost and the weapon went skittering across the floor to land fairly uselessly near Yuffie's feet.  When he was able to pick himself off the ground he saw Yuffie laugh and shake her head.

            Cait scowled at the look, but he didn't have much time before he heard the quick light footsteps of Shake running up, probably to finish him off.  With a reflex action Cait didn't know he had, he jumped to his feet and sprang to the side only just avoiding Shake's fist. Acting on the same instinct, Cait swung out with his own paw.  He realized too late that he really should have made sure not to have his claws flexed at the time.  Shake emitted a small cry more out of surprise than injury and risked a quick peek at his side.  Three small cuts were cut through his tunic, a small amount of blood seeping through the material. 

            Cait didn't even know why he would strike his opponent with his claw.  A human's fist was much stronger than what Cait had to work with and even with his claws out, the glancing blow did little damage.  He knew that all he had managed to do was piss Shake off.

            Thoughts of making a dash to where his weapon lay passed briefly through his mind but watching Shake now he was too caught up in the spectacle.  Shake was invoking his transformation.

            "Speed Change!"

            A multitude of bright colorful lights engulfed Shake swirling and spinning in a maddening rhythm till finally Cait had to avert his eyes. When he looked back he saw, to his astonishment, not a pissed off boy, but a rather miffed looking penguin.  Cait almost laughed but checked himself in time.  No wonder everybody had turned up for the show.  A cat fighting a penguin.  

            His amusement didn't last long though.  The penguin did a funny little twirl and suddenly Cait was engulfed in magical flame.  The heat was astonishing.  Cait briefly wondered why he could even feel it.  After all, he didn't feel pain, he was mechanical.  Finally he realized what it was he was feeling.  The heat was effecting his circuits and his structural frame work.  Metal expanded, wires popped all the while Cait's outside remained perfectly intact.  Magical flame had that effect he vaguely recalled.  His olfactory sensors started picking up the faint smell of smoke.  This was not good.  Then all at once it was gone.  

            The fire spell could only have lasted a few seconds but Cait could've sworn that it had been many minutes.  No hair on his body was singed, but he could feel his insides still smoking with the effects.  He wanted to stay still and not risk breaking his heated body, but he knew if he didn't the quickly dissipating heat might fuse something together or something.  He had to move.  He wanted to go for his weapon, but he dared not move too fast before the effects of the spell had totally worn off, if they ever did.

            _Reeve was right!  This was stupid! Damn my temper, I'm just not good enough!_

Thinking off Reeve. Cait lifted his head to look over at his creator.  Reeve had taken a step toward the arena, his face livid with rage at the spectacle in front of him, the only thing holding him back was Elena's hand firmly holding him back, and Reno's strong grip on his shoulder.  Both Turks looked to be talking hastily to him, reassuring him and making gestures toward Lord Godo.

            Confused Cait followed their gestures and saw the Lord, a troubled look on his face, looking at his warriors and shaking his head.  Cait was confused.  Until of course he realized what was just about to happen.  Lord Godo was about to call the fight to and end!

            _No!_

Cait's frightened and confused feelings suddenly fled his brain leaving him with the most calm since he had visited Yuffie yesterday.  Cait became clear-headed, alert.  A million and one strategies poured through his mind on how he could deal with Shake. Ten more on how he could deal with Lord Godo and how to show them all that he was still capable of fighting. Quickly sorting through all his ideas he discarded all but the one he chose.

            Looking back up at Reeve he found the man's eyes riveted on him, serious concern etched into his facial features.  It was at this point that Cait winked at the anxious man and bestowed on him the biggest, toothiest grin he could muster.

            Once accomplished he turned his attention back at the Shake penguin that was at this moment preparing another devastating spell.  Cait managed to interrupt the penguin's concentration with a pair of gleaming green eyes and a feral half smile exposing one sharp canine.

*

            "Has he lost it?"  Elena asked worriedly after seeing the happy looking grin Cait had shot them.

            Reeve stopped pulling against his two captors, brow creased.  "I don't know."

            Reno however was ginning inanely.  "He hasn't lost it.  He just found it."

            "What?"  Reeve asked confused.

            "Think about it, about how he's been acting.  He's finally starting to put himself together. You can see it."

            All Reeve saw was his small cute Cait smirking and advancing on a slightly baffled looking penguin.  As he continued to watch he could make out Cait's eyes darting back and forth, around Shake's position, but he never let his head stray with his eyes.  It remained turned toward Shake at all times.  It only occurred to Reeve then, what it was exactly that Cait was doing.

            While Cait was moving slowly, it gave his body enough time to recuperate from the blast of the fire spell.  But while Cait was still advancing, it made his opponent wary and forced to focus on something other than another spell.  All while this was going on, Cait was formulating his plan of attack.  Any way that Shake chose to move or attack, Cait would have accounted for and made ready to counter.  He was memorizing his surroundings and his opponents position with analytical precision. 

            What Reno had said was starting to make sense.  Cait was drawing from all influences in his mind.  Taking the best, and sorting through all the information at his disposal.  That was why Cait had looked so calm all of a sudden. No longer was he struggling to try and understand all acquired tidbits of information, he was now just simply using it.

            "You're right." Reeve said astonished.

            "This should be interesting." Reno grinned.

            Cait seemed to have taken enough time to recover, and he was close enough to his target. Standing on two feet Cait tensed his small body and waited a second more to see if the other combatant was going to react. He was. But Shake only had the time to raise one flipper before Cait sprang forward.  

            What happened next left Reeve and all Turks open-mouthed, not to mention the astonished looks by everyone else present.  What Cait did seemed to defy gravity.

            He leapt forward and landed on Shake's chest with his back legs. But before Shake could fall back from the impact or Cait could loose his momentum, he uses Shake's chest as a spring board, propelling himself up into the air and away from his opponent.  Doing a small turn in midair, Cait landed with a small skid clear across the other side of the room, coming to a stop centimeters from his staff.

Reeve looked at Reno with wide-eyed disbelief.

            "Don't look at me."  Reno said quickly, "I sure as hell can't fucking do that."

            Without wasting any time, Cait scooped up his weapon and flipped open the top of the staff and tipped three gleaming ninja stars into his palm. 

            Reno didn't miss the nasty look he got from Reeve at this point, knowing full well where Cait had gotten the extra weapons from.

            Clamping the stars firmly between his teeth Cait jumped to his feet and began to stalk his prey once more.

            By this time, Shake had recovered enough to be back on his feet and preparing to cast another spell.  The spell missed it's target though as Cait sprang deftly to one side, avoiding the magical flames. Once he saw his spell miss, Shake rushed in to take a stab at the agile cat with his sharp beak.  Once again, Cait had him out-maneuvered. He twisted out of the way at the same time bringing the butt of his staff, now held in both hands, 'round to catch the penguins feet, flipping the small animal onto it's back.  Luckily for Shake, he managed to roll out of the way before the end of the staff pounded his wind out.

            It seemed to occur to Shake at this point that his transformation was doing little for him at present.  As soon as he scrambled to his feet he began to reverse the change, the light from the magic forcing Cait to look away.  The light eventually dimmed leaving Cait standing about two meters away from Shake in his original form, the boy had backed himself up against a clear section of wall to give himself some space from Cait.  

            Not to be deterred by the change in his opponent's form Cait made a new lunge and his prey aiming low. As human, Shake was able to easily hop the swing of the staff.  But this is what Cait had been waiting for, he had intentionally feigned a move in order to leave his opponent unable to avoid his next move.  A split second after Shake landed, Cait took a star from between his teeth, pivoted and flung the star with all his might.  The star imbedded itself into the wall a hair's width from Shake's right arm taking the cloth of his tunic with it.  

            Partially pinned to the wall behind him, Shake tugged at his shirtsleeve trying to rip himself free. He needn't have bothered.

            Clasping the staff in one paw, Cait smacked the butt end of the staff against the ground.  The materia slots turned bringing a new piece of materia into alignment with his weapon. Gripping the staff with both paws horizontally, materia slot in the center, Cait bowed his head. A second later the air around the captive Shake was ripped with the crackling of many thunderbolts.  Once the spell had passed Shake was left slumped against the wall, his right arm still pinned, hair standing on end from the electricity.

            Cait walked a little closer to his opponent and regarded the boy intently for a second.  

            Shake's lips were moving but no sound was forthcoming.

            "Pardon?" Cait asked politely.

            Shake raised his head and glared at the robot with open hostility.

            "I give!" He yelled.

*

            The Turk's corner erupted with loud cheers.  Even Godo seemed to be smiling, though he didn't let his daughter see it.  Yuffie strolled over with the rest of the crowd that swarmed over toward Cait.  All at once everybody was patting him and touching him, congratulating him. Yuffie just simply went over to Shake and pulled the star out of the wall, releasing the boy.  The girl didn't look very happy.

            Just when Cait thought he was going to be swamped by the crowded warriors he felt two strong hands reach down and lift him up.

            "You looked like you were drowning."  Reeve whispered to him.

            Cait gave him a happy smile clung to his neck.  "I did it."

            "Told you, you could do it."

            "Yeah, but you were lying your ass off."

            Reeve chuckled slightly and ruffled the fur on his head.

            "Ladies and gentlemen.  The display is over, you may now return to your work."  Godo's voice sounded loudly rising above the murmurs of the gathered people.

            They dispersed back to their own floors, conversations alight with the spectacle they had just witnessed.  All that remained were the Turks, Reeve, Cait, Lord Godo, Yuffie and Shake.

            "You better escort Shake to the healer Yuffie." Godo advised.

            Yuffie nodded and helped Shake to his feet.  Godo slapped Reeve on the back and smiled at Cait.  "It probably hasn't relieved anyone's fears of techno soldiers, but it was a great display, worthy of any Wutaian warrior."

            With that Godo left the room leaving Cait beaming with pride.  "Wutaian warrior?"

            "You did beat one of their finest." Rude reminded him.

            "I did didn't I! Wow, Reeve…"

            Yuffie was halfway across the room with Shake but she had let him slump to the floor after hearing the comment. "Hah! Shake isn't exactly our finest!  I'll bet you it wouldn't have done so well against me!"

            "You want to make a bet?"  Cait grinned.

            "Beautiful but dangerous."  Reno told Cait in a mocking tone, "See dropped her own friend just to throw an insult and sniff out a fight. Definitely dangerous."

            Yuffie looked down and blushed in embarrassment.  Bending over to help Shake back to his wobbly feet.

            "Dangerous maybe," Cait agreed loudly to Reno, his green eyes flashing in mischief, "Beautiful?  I haven't seen an ass that bony since I last summoned Hades."

            Flushing even more Yuffie left the room dragging Shake along in her haste.

            "You nasty little fucker."  Reno grinned proudly.

            Cait hugged Reeve's neck tightly and smiled broadly at Reno. "I learnt off the best."  

***************

            _Notes: Yes I am aware I wrote an entire chapter on one little bitty fight.  But I think it was well deserving.  Big step in Cait's growing and a touchy feeling ending to boot! Sa will at least be weirded out that I wrote so much action into one chapter. (Yes yes little conversationals in this one so ner!)  Next I want to get into Reeve's character a little bit more but it won't be a real lot.  Yes the fic is starting to wind down a little more now, but if it does continue (once I conclude this one(Probably another couple of chapters)) with either me or Sa writing it, it will now have a lot to draw from. _

_ Next chapter coming soon, more action, more intrigue and more witty Cait phrases_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_all my stories can be found on the 70th Floor Office in Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_


	7. Chapter 7

A Different Kind Of Superhero

By Anime Fearie

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 7 

****

Cait wandered up Reno's chest and perched there, waiting for the Turk to notice him.  Unfortunately the woman currently sharing his bed did first.  One look at the large green eyed creature sitting on the red-headed Turk's chest and the woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, the likes of which Cait had never heard.  He almost fell off his perch looking around for the thing that had startled the woman so much.  The woman was grabbing her clothes and making for the door before Cait had a chance to ask her what had frightened her.  Thankfully Reno woke up though and looked at Cait with surprising calmness, especially after hearing the woman's scream.

            "Morning Cait." He greeted sleepily. "Bored?"

            "I was." Cait admitted. "But you're lucky I came to see you.  You have something obviously frightening hiding around here somewhere.  Scared the shit out of that poor woman.  I think I managed to scare it off though, Can't see it around anywhere.  I wonder what it could have been?  You know Reno if I hadn't been here it might have killed you.  I really am a hero huh? You know-umpf," Reno sat up, spilling Cait off his chest and onto the rumpled sheets on the side.  It didn't seem to matter to Cait though, "You know it's a pity that the scary monster left.  I mean I could have charmed her with my great fighting ability.  

            Cait stopped and thought for a second

            "She was real pretty after all. Hey Reno, why don't you keep her?  I mean you don't see a pretty woman like that everyday and well, yeah, she /was/ pretty easily startled, she seemed kinda nice."

            "Finished?" Reno asked rubbing his head and getting out of bed.

            "No. Hey Reno, why doesn't Reeve wake up with pretty woman like that?  I mean no offense but he's much nicer than you and he has that whole tall and dark thing going on."

            "I dunno. Reeve's not like me I guess." Reno answered irritably.

            "What? A slut?"

            Reno cracked up and threw a pillow at the grinning cat.

            "Asshole.  You're doing this on purpose aren't you?  You know I have a hangover."

            Cait pondered this for a moment.  "Yes. I mean you /did/ drink a lot last night, even for you.  But I was kinda serious about Reeve.  Is there something wrong with him?"

            "I wouldn't think so. He's probably just a little shy or something."  Reno answered reaching for his discarded pants.

            "Maybe he just needs some help."

            Reno groaned.  "If you helped him Cait he'd probably end up paired off with a toaster or something."

            "A toaster?  I wouldn't think toasters were especially attractive."

            Reno stopped what he was doing and looked at the mystified face Cait was pulling.

            "It's going to be one of those days isn't it?"

*************

          Last night had been quite a celebration.

            After Cait's win in the temple the Turks had announced they were taking the day off and had herded both Cait and Reeve to the bar for celebratory drinkies.

            It had also introduced Cait to the art of being a drunken asshole.

            While Cait couldn't drink alcohol, or anything for that matter, it hadn't stopped the others from doing so.  Cait watched as round after round of drinks were bought to the table and then promptly consumed by all present.  

            Cait found the whole experience quite interesting to watch.  As the four drank more, each of their personalities seemed to undergo this rather interesting transformation.  It was like the alcohol bought different parts of their personalities forward and magnified them tenfold.  

With Reno it seemed to be his ability to remember old TV theme tunes and sing them off key while trying to chat up the pretty dark haired waitress that was serving them.

Elena just talked.  Constant happy chatter than drowned out most other conversation around the table.  The slurred words didn't make much sense to Cait but the other's seemed to understand enough to nod occasionally and offer vocal support.

For Reeve it was far more subtle.  The worry lines on his brow, that Cait had begun to think were permanent, smoothed.  He seemed to talk a little more and smile a lot more.  

Rude….well the only way that Cait was able to tell that the stoic Turk was actually drunk was much later in the night when he lay his head down on the table and began snoring.

Cait couldn't help thinking that he was missing out on something amazing.  

"Why can't I get drunk?" Cait had asked Reeve plaintively. 

"'Cause you can swallow anything."

Well that had been a simple and easy explanation.

"What's it like?"  He asked curiously.

"I want to lie shipwrecked and comatose…"

Reeve smirked in Reno's direction as the Turk's singing went up slightly in volume.

"Fuzzy."  Reeve answered simply.

"Drinking fresh, mango juice…"

"Fuzzy?  Like when I'm low on power and I haven't switched down modes to save power?  I know that makes me kind of light-headed and stuff."

"Goldfish are nibbling at my toes…"

"Pretty much."

Cait nodded understanding.  He could do that.  He could drain his power enough to make himself feel a little fuzzy.  The only problem was that if he kept it up without powering back up he would run out of power and shut down.  

Still, He thought looking at Rude, It's not like that wouldn't go with being drunk anyway.  Reeve can just fix me up in the morning.

It took some doing, but Cait managed to convince his body to release his energy stores enough for that feeling of giddiness to overtake him.  The effect was so sudden that he almost fell off the table he was sitting on.

"Woah. You're right this /is/ fun!"

Reeve just smiled at Cait drunkenly and finished off his glass.

^^^^

"Fun fun fun, in the sun sun sun…"

That pretzel was moving.  Cait couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn that the pretzel sitting in front of him had made a leap for Reno.

Hunkering down Cait lay himself flat on the table and watched the pretzel with intense interest, his eyes flashing 

^^^^

"It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere…"

There it did it again!  It was defineitly going for the Turk's throat.  And Reno was still unaware of it's malicious intent.  Well Cait wasn't about to let the salty little bastard attack one of his friends.  Not if he had anything to do with it.

This time he narrowed his eyes at the offending piece of bar food.

^^^^

"I'm all alone more or less…"

"So pretzel, you think you can outwit me eh?  I know you're plan and it won't work see.  I'm a Wutian Warrior don't yer know. I've fought in battle with the best and I've been killing pretzels before you were even salted."

^^^^

It wasn't for a good couple of hours that Cait began to feel the last dregs of power start to fail.  His vision dimmed and he had the oddest sensation of falling even though he could still feel the table which he was laying on.

"You've won this round pretzel.  But death will not stop me!  I will come back, I will be stronger! And if you harm one thread on that cheap blue suit, I will hunt you down and crush you into tiny little bits! You hear me pretzel!  I will never give up…I…."

Cait's voice died down leaving the table surprisingly quiet.

"I think he passed out."  Reno pointed out helpfully to Reeve.

But Reeve was longer listening.  His own head was slumped forward on the table, a light snore echoing through the room to mingle with Rude's loud drone.

Elena giggled.  "Maybe we should take 'em back upstairs to their rooms."

Reno nodded solemnly.  "Pity I was just getting into a nice state.  Hmmm, maybe I'll come back after I drop Rude off."  He mumbled raising his eyes to the waitress that was giving him much the same look.

Reno stood up and picked Cait up off the table, slinging the unconscious Cait over his shoulder.  Once Cait was secure, he kicked Rude into partial consciousness and hauled the big man to his feet.

Elena, not wanting to give Reeve the same harsh treatment shook him gently and told him it was time to start walking.  Grumbling an affirmative, Reeve let Elena pull him to his feet and support him toward the stairs.

Once in Reeve's room, Elena wasn't quite sure how to set him down gently.  She wasn't extremely experienced in helping drunk people to bed.  Usually Reno would take care of Rude or vise versa.

After dumping Rude, Reno strolled in and put Cait down on top of the desk next to the bed.

"Just dump him El, I doubt he'd feel it even if you did manage to hurt him.  I'm off to see if that stunning, charming woman is still downstairs."

With that Reno exited the room and wandered back off down the hallway toward the stairs.

Reno was right, there was no gentle way to do this.  She bought him up alongside the bed and gave him a careful nudge in the right direction.  Once he was down she picked his feet off the floor and lifted them back up onto the bed with the rest of him and began to take off his shoes.

"'Lena?"  Reeve mumbled making feeble attempts to look down at her.

Elena smiled slightly.  "Yeah?"

"Where are we?"

"In your room."

"Oh."

She finished with his shoes and dropped them on the floor.

"Where's Cait?"

"On the desk.  Do you want me to hook him up?"

"Uh-huh."

Elena crossed the floor and flipped open Reeve's little computer.  She had seen Reeve go through the task of setting Cait to power up that she had the thing running in a few minutes.

She turned back to he bed and leant over Reeve.  "All done.  Night Reeve."

His eyes were closed but he seemed to be at least partially awake.

"G'night Lena."

Standing there for a few more moments Elena was struck with the same thought Cait had had earlier in the night.  All worry and doubt was now smoothed from the man's face leaving him looking younger, happier and less stressed.  Carefully she reached down and flicked a small piece of dark hair out of his face and tucked it behind his ear. Reeve smiled slightly in his sleep haze and began to snore softly once more.

**********************************************

"Reno asked me if I want to go with them to track down the thief today!" Cait announced bounding into Reeve's bedroom.  "Can I Reeve?"

Reeve groaned and rolled over trying to block out the black and white demon that was ranting very loudly at him.

"Reeve?"  Cait asked again.

Getting no reply Cait scrambled up onto the bed and gazed down at Reeve with deep concern.  

"Reeve you don't look so well.  Maybe I should stay here and keep an eye on you."  Then more brightly, "I can tell you this weird dream I had about this psychopathic pretzel that was trying to eat Reno.  It…."

Reeve was gripped by a sudden terror and bolted upright in bed.  Immediately he regretted the action, his head swimming.  Putting a clammy hand to his sore head Reeve smiled at Cait in a fashion that he hoped was reassuring.

"No Cait.  You should go with Reno really.  I feel fine."

He knew Reeve would say yes.  People with hangovers were so predictable.  All he had to do was talk to them and they let him have whatever he wanted.  Cait grinned at Reeve broadly.  

"Okay, you stay here and rest.  Then you should go out look at the sights.  Mingle.  You never know who you might bump into.  You know I saw this pretty girl down near the weapons store this morning…"

"You went out today?  Without me? Cait, you shouldn't…"

"Relax.  After all I'm a big hero now.  I can take care of myself.  Besides people seemed really interested to see me.  I think they heard about what happened in the temple yesterday."  Cait told him smugly.  

Done with thinking too much, Reeve lay back down and closed his eyes.  "Well have fun Cait.  Don't wander away from the others."

"I won't." Cait promised.  "And you really should go and check out the weapons store.  I saw some interesting things in there this morning."

"Uh-huh. Sure."  Reeve answered absently, already drifting back to sleep.

*******************

Throughout the entire day Cait followed the Turks around as they questioned people, but Cait found himself unable to concentrate on it all properly.  His mind was still stuck on other thoughts.  The problem with Reeve for instance.  After all he wanted to do something good for the guy.  Essentially Reeve had given Cait life and that made the man something of a father to Cait in his eyes.  He deserved good things.  Things he obviously didn't have.  One of these things was a companion.  After all Reno seemed content enough and reputedly, he'd had plenty of them.

Cait liked to think he knew enough on the subject to help Reeve out, but he had to admit that a lot of that was probably un-reliable.  Especially after his talk with Reno this morning.

It was almost night time now, and Cait still hadn't come up with a good plan of action.  

They were huddled in an alleyway across from a heavily used double story building on the outskirts of Wutai.  Rude had gone inside to look around while the other three waited for him and watched the building.  Had Cait been paying attention, he would have realized that they had gotten a description of the thief earlier and where he was most likely to show up later.  Unfortunately Cait hadn't been paying attention and had been questioning the two remaining Turks non-stop on what he could do concerning his plight.

"I mean I'm not stupid, I do know what some woman want."

            "How?" Elena asked confused.

            "Well, I at least know what certain men think woman want." Cait amended. "And I don't honestly know what Reeve's problem is.  Maybe he needs to show how nice he is more often or walk around with no pants or something."

            Reno started to look worried.  "Cait tell me you're not drawing this from the 'me' part of your brain. And if you are, shut up now."

            He saw Elena start to question something and intervened. "For the love of the gods Elena don't."

            Cait turned to Elena and smiled. "You're a woman Elena.  What do women want in a man?"

            "I'm still not passed this pants thing." She admitted with the same confused look.

            A stern look from Reno ceased Cait's 'lengthy' explanation. 

            "All woman are different, you can't generalize it.  While some deluded woman go for all that charming bullshit Reno tells them, others go for the more subdued, the nice guy." She told him.

            It was obvious that the answer didn't appease Cait.  "If that were true there would have been a beautiful woman in Reeve's bed this morning as well."

            "He's got a point El." Reno smirked.

            "And I wouldn't be so sick of my Polaroid collection only containing Reno's naked ass.  You know Reno you really are such a camera hog you should let the woman be in more."

            That wiped the smile off the Turk's face. "Your mechanical life depends on you joking right now."

            Cait snickered. "Trust me."

            Elena buried her head in her hand and giggled.

            "What about you?" Cait continued, "What do you like?"

            "Yeah El," Reno chimed in, pleased they were focused on someone else now, "what about you?"

            Elena flushed and glared at Reno.  "That bullshit Reno charm is definitely a turn off in my books."

            "So you like the nice guy thing?" Cait asked hopefully.

            "No El likes the no pants thing." Reno said smirking.

            "If you three are finished?" Came a voice from the shadows off to their left. 

            Rude stepped out of the shadows and gave Reno a curt nod.  

            "He's in there alright. Barman said he usually leaves in a few minutes though.  We should be able to follow him."

            Reno smiled in satisfaction and turned his attention back toward the building.  Rude's words proved prophetic as a young light-haired man wandered out of the building right on time and began strolling down the street.

            "Okay let's go." Reno announced.

            He was about to step out onto the street when Cait spoke up.

            "You really are wetter than Leviathan's inner ear, aren't you Reno.  If all four of us started following this guy down the street we'll look about as inconspicuous as Alexander in broad daylight."

            Reno looked at Cait in shocked admiration.  "You're right."

            Cait shrugged and suddenly started to look guilty about correcting the experienced Turk.  "I guess I just don't have that hangover to contend with."

            "El, Rude, follow him.  Me and the strategic brain-box over here will wait and make sure nobody follows /you/.  Call me when you get to wherever."

***

            Two men from inside the bar watched as the two Turks appeared from the shadows of the alleyway and fall in behind the young blond man.

            "We can't follow him now.  I only see two Turks.  The other one is probably watching their backs."  The first man told the second.

            "So what do we do Victor?"

            "We know where they are going anyway.  Go back and inform Ryder what's happening.  I can take care of the Turks."

********************

            "This is the home of a big materia thief?  I would've thought it would be more….big."

            Elena caught the look Reno gave her and winced.

            "This is not his home." Elena whispered.  "Now Cait you have to be quiet."

            Cait nodded in understanding and quickly fell into step behind her.  They crept across the lawn of the small building and came to a halt beside the side wall.  Cait slipped his staff off his back as he saw Reno and the other Turks upholster their weapons.  Reno made silent motions toward Elena and Rude and the pair slipped off toward the back of the building.  Reno himself started to move toward the front, gesturing for Cait to follow.

            Doing as instructed, Cait followed Reno around to the front and watched the Turk peek into the windows by the front door.  Seemingly satisfied that there was no immediate trouble he beckoned for Cait to some closer.

            "This is where you come in."  Reno whispered.  "I want you to go up onto the roof and see if you can't find a way into the building.  Once inside, stay low and wait until you hear us come in.  If anything happens you're are backup. Any questions?"

            Cait nodded.  "Do you think Reeve would have better luck if he shaved off his goatee?"

            Reno rolled his eyes and stalked away from Cait toward the front door.

            Cait shrugged.  Maybe this wasn't the best time to ask. Securing his staff to his back once again he began to scale the drainpipe next to him that would take him up onto the roof.

*

            Reno waited a little longer, giving Rude and Elena a chance to get into position.  When enough time had passed, he tensed and threw his shoulder at the door.  The door wasn't very sturdy and gave with the second shove.  It made a loud cracking noise as it went, telling Reno he would have to move quickly. Undoubtedly, whoever that was inside would have ample warning now.

            Ducking through the door Reno paused by the first door, careful not to run straight in and get a chest-full of lead.  Risking a quick peek around the doorframe, he saw that the room was empty and moved onto the next.

            He found his target in the third room, trying desperately to shove as many things into a bag as he could as fast as possible.  Reno took all this in, but the thing that demanded most of his attention was sitting on the desk by the man, an arm's length away.

            Stepping into the room fully Reno spoke, "Stop that and turn around. Slowly. Lemme see your hands."

            Frightened, the young man did as instructed, his eyes glancing fleetingly at the glowing red orb on the desk near him.

            Reno could almost see what the guy was thinking.  "I wouldn't if I were you.  You're unarmed and all I have to do it squeeze the trigger."

            Reno felt the familiar presence of Rude and Elena come into the room behind him.  "The house is clear." Elena reported.  "Nobody else around."

            "Good.  Rude tie him up.  Elena, grab the materia."

            Both Turks jumped to their jobs.  Once Elena had pocketed the materia and the perpetrator had been restrained, Reno holstered his weapon and relaxed.

            "Well, that was easy."

            "That was what I was thinking." Came a familiar voice from behind him.

            Too late Reno realized he'd left his back to an unopened door.  He went to turn around but the new person jammed the muzzle of his gun into Reno's back stopping any further movement.

            Both Elena and Rude were braced for a fight, but one look from Reno told the two not to doubt the man's intentions.

            "Hullo Victor.  Fancy seeing you here. Small world eh?"

            "Too small Reno."

            "Can I assume that Ryder had something to do with this little theft?  If he was I have to admit, he doesn't exactly believe in tough security."

            Reno's tone was light, conversational. But his mind was working hard, figuring out ways to ditch the newcomer and hightail it out of here.

            "Oh this had nothing to do with Ryder.  I was here searching for you and your pet scientist.  Mr. Ryder has become increasingly disturbed by your organization and he wants it shut down, permanently."

            Reno sounded bored. "So he told me the last dozen times he's seen me.  But you have me totally mystified about this scientist stuff."

            He could just imagine Victor scowling at this. "Don't play dumb, we found out about that lab in Icicle Village.  And you can be assured that you won't be able to rely on that place for a while.  The boys paid the place a visit, little left I'm afraid."

            So that was it.  They thought Reeve was some scientist supplying them with new technology.  

            _We should be so lucky._

            "You may have pissed the wrong people off by doing that."  Reno informed him.  

            "We're not afraid of you Reno.  We are many, you /Turks/," he almost spat the word, "are only three people without the aid of your precious technology cheats."

            Vaguely Reno heard the dull thud of something strike the floorboards just out in the hallway.  Victor apparently heard it to and was distracted momentarily.  The distraction was enough.  Reno flung himself out of the way just before the fire spell engulfed Victor.  Victor howled in pain and dropped his gun.

            "Make that four." A small voice called out from behind Victor.

            The Turks watched in fascination as Cait ran up behind Victor. As the flames died down Cait struck the back of Victor's knees with his staff.  Victor went down onto his knees and Cait took the opportunity to give the same treatment to the back of Victor's head.  With two sickening thuds Victor was sprawled on his stomach across the ground in front of the Turks.  

            Reno had to fight the urge to clap, while Rude and Elena shot each other astonished glances.

            Cait walked up Victor's back and rested the butt of his staff in between the unconscious man's shoulder blades.

            "So Elena.  Do /you/ have a boyfriend?"

********

_            Notes: Cait is a little bad ass  isn't he?  But so damn cute as well!_

_            So, what now?  It looks as though the Turks have unwittingly drawn Reeve into their affairs.  Yet another reason not to split everyone up just yet.  Clever isn't it?_

_Many thanks to Acelynd for supplying me with endless streams of TV theme tunes, I ended up picking the theme for Red Dwarf (insert suck up disclaimer here telling everyone how lovely Rob Grant and Douglas Naylor are for not suing my ass over three lines of measly lyrics) because it's a funky tune.  Goldfish..heh how could I not use it.  _

_Love to all and to all a lusty goodnight_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor Office at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_


	8. Chapter 8

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 8 

****

            "Oh this is just fucking perfect." Reeve muttered angrily kicking a cracked piece of his furniture across the room where it rebounded off the cracked screen of a computer.  "Just fucking perfect."

            The lab was in ruins.  Well the interior anyway.  It looked as though about five big guys had set to the place with sledgehammers.  

            _Actually, _thought Reeve, _that's probably exactly what happened._

Papers were torn and tossed around the main room.  Here and there a few had even been burnt.  Any little gadgets he'd been working on were missing from their places of the benches, undoubtedly stolen.  Anything left was basically wrecked beyond repair.  Reeve thought that he could have done less damage himself if he'd sent off a small mako powered bomb in the room.

            The Turks and Cait lingered back by the door, not wanting to disturb the enraged man while he took out his anger on the furniture.  None of them could blame him for his temper.  After all Reeve had spent months sorting through the lab, building things, cataloguing Gast's notes, making his own.  All his research, everything he had uncovered had been taken or destroyed.  All with the exception of Cait of course.

            "I really am sorry about this."  Reno began uncharacteristically timid.  "They did this because…"

            "I know why they did this."  Reeve interrupted.  "But you couldn't have known that this was going to happen.  I don't blame you guys, I just want to know if and when we might be able to recover what has been taken."

            Reno shared a blank look with his two fellow Turks before turning the same look upon Reeve.  "Recover the stuff?  Look Reeve I don't mean to sound mean but I told you what Victor said about us being outnumbered and it's true.  I know their headquarters in Junon and I know that there is no way anybody is getting in that place unless they have a mako cannon strapped to their back okay?  I don't think we'll be able to get anything back, even if there is anything left to get back after these guys are through with it."

            Reeve's hands clenched into fists as he gazed back at his friend.  "I don't care.  I've worked too long and hard here to just have it taken for a reason I have nothing to do with!  If needs be, Cait and I will go by ourselves."

            All three Turks went to protest at once but Cait beat them all to the punch.  "Woah Reeve, Reno's right."  Cait stepped more fully into the room and glanced around at the destruction.  "I don't want you to….."

            Cait's voice faded out as his eyes came to rest on a bare corner of the lab.  A corner that wasn't usually so bare.  A corner that Cait knew well and spent most of his time in.  Cait stood up fully, his eyes wide, ears flattened on his head.

            "Fucking bastards!!! They took my Mog!!! That's it! I'm with you Reeve! Let's get 'em!"  Cait bared his teeth into a vicious snarl and started back toward the door.  "If they've harmed one white hair on my Mog's back I'll…."

            Cait was cut off mid-rant as Rude deftly caught Cait by his cape, hoisting him off the floor as he passed by.  It didn't seem to matter to Cait. He continued to stalk, now in the air, muttering string after string of profanities that would even make Reno blush.

            "You can't go in there by yourselves!"  Elena protested.  "Ryder has as many as twenty or thirty men in Junon at any one time."

            Reeve chewed his lip in thought for a moment, his anger seeming to slowly calm a little.  "But don't forget about why they did this." He began thoughtfully.  "I'm some great Shinra scientist remember.  Providing the Turks with technological advancements that would assist you against greater odds."

            "So?"  Reno asked bewildered.  "It wasn't the truth."

            "Maybe not about the scientist part.  But the rest could be."

            "You've lost me."  Reno admitted.  "No scratch that, you've lost it.  I don't care what you say, there is no way any of us would let you go up against Ryder alone.  And unfortunately we're not stupid enough to go for you."

            "What I am saying is that if you help me with this, I'll give you your payment for helping me get all that stuff in the first place.  I will give you what you requested."

            Reno's face went through a multitude of differing emotions all within the space of two seconds.  First he looked confused, something akin to understanding then finally something that looked something in between disbelief and amused.

            "Well Reeve, if you want to prove them right I might just consider it.  But you have to tell me what you have in mind.  I mean correct me if I'm wrong but it will be hard for you to give us anything if all your stuff is gone."

            Elena just looked at the two as if they were speaking another language.

            "A lot of my notes are stored on my portable that I took to Wutai.  Anything of Gast's I need are all up here."  Reeve explained tapping his head.  "We just need to do a little shopping."

            "Okay, what's going on?" Elena asked.  "I'm not sure I'm liking the sound of this."

            Reno just smiled at the baffled woman.  "Reeve's going to make us a few toys.  And then we are going to go and see Mr. Ryder."

                                                ********************************

            "There are three guys on each door, two patrolling the roof and three on each floor, three floors.  I make it fourteen on security detail alone." Reno said with confidence. "And that's just the guys on duty.  Now what these guys lack in brains and skill they make up with numbers and weaponry.  You can expect each of them are carrying autos. The guys on the roof, rifles complete with night scopes.  Good ones.  I went over there one day to have a word with Ryder about an account he stole.  One of the bastards on the roof imbedded a bullet a centimeter off my left foot in the pavement and told me to fuck off.  They're good shots and they're confident."

            "Do you think they're confident enough to dodge my staff weapon when a I try to insert it up their left nostrils?"

            By unanimous unspoken agreement, Cait was ignored.

            Elena came over and sat on the bench near where the guys had chosen to sit on the floor.  It looked kind of funny to see three grown men huddled cross-legged on the floor, but she supposed they had little choice considering that what little pieces of furniture Reeve /did/ have was now mostly in little bits across the floor.

            "I don't get it."  Elena interrupted.  "What could Reeve possibly build that would give us an advantage over so many heavily armed men."

            She thought maybe, too late, that Reeve might take offence to her question, but it didn't seem to bother him.

            "From what I know, in situations such as this, Turks thrive on stealth right?"  Reeve asked.  They all nodded.  "What if I told you that I might be able to make up a few little things that would allow you to see around corners, disrupt security cameras by remote and protect you from heat scanners?  Do you think that would allow you to overcome the odds?"

            "It would help."  Elena readily agreed.  "But with that many guards you'd have to make us invisible as well."

            "Yeah well, that I can't do."  He stated unnecessarily.  "But you guys are trained professionals, you can handle a few guards right?"

            "Right."  Reno affirmed.  "With a little help.  What did you have in mind?"

            "Well everything I mentioned of course.  But I have to admit, most of what I have is for Cait.  But that should still work."  He paused for a second and looked at each meaningfully.  "I need to ask you all a favor. I'm an engineer, not a Turk.  You may need to show me a few little basics."

            Elena shook her head.  "No."

            "What?"  Everyone echoed.

            "Look it's true, you aren't a Turk. You aren't coming." She told him sternly.

            "But I am the reason you are doing this.  I can't ask you all to risk your lives when I wouldn't be doing the same."

            "It's not the same. Besides you were only targeted because of our being here.  If you went you would be at more risk.  And so would we if we took you."  She finished softly.

            Reeve scowled at the comment and shot Elena a fierce look.  "I'm well aware of my own shortcomings Elena, I don't need to be reminded about what I am not."

            Reeve stood suddenly and headed toward the door.  "I need air."  He left, slamming the door behind him.

            They all stared in surprise at the door, none even daring to talk with the exception of one who hadn't even noticed the departure being to wrapped up in his own thoughts.

            "I wonder what would happen if I activated the materia  once I'd already shoved my staff up their asses?"

            "I know you meant well El, but you could have worded that better."  Reno told her.

            Elena hopped off the bench and started after Reeve.  "Tell me about it."

            She found him sitting on the rise behind the house looking down at the frozen pond below.  She remembered sitting out here with him while Reno had slept off his drunken stupor inside.  It almost felt like years ago now.  Back then, only really a week ago she  had felt like she still didn't know Reeve all that well.  He was a friend she had seen only one side of.  Now she couldn't say the same.

            Slowly and silently, she sat on the cold ground beside him, and just watched his face.  She would wait until he was ready to talk.

            "I'm sorry."

            "There's no need to apologize."  She replied softly, "I'm aware that you know the danger you would be putting yourself in.  But I won't take back what I said."

            "I wish I knew how to handle things.  That when it came time to act that I would be prepared. That I was like Cloud and the others.  Heroes that can and do fight when it becomes necessary."  Here Reeve let out a mirthless chuckled that caused Elena took look at him a little worriedly.  "You know I actually started to believe that I was one of them.  Part of Avalanche.  How naïve was I huh?  A worthless desk jockey with the spine of your average earthworm."

            Elena swallowed thickly, she hadn't meant to make Reeve feel worthless obviously.  She just didn't want to see him get hurt.

            "You can't mean that.  You were more a 'good guy' than any of us that's for sure.  Being able to fight doesn't make a hero Reeve.  Even Hojo could fight. And here you are willing to put your life in danger, knowing that you may not have the skill to defend yourself.  I'd hardly call that cowardly."

            "It's guilt that makes me want to do that.  Like I said I can't send you somewhere that I myself wouldn't be prepared to go.  I never said I wasn't heartless."

            It was obvious that she wasn't getting through to him.  She didn't mean to make him feel so bad.

            _Perhaps it isn't me. _She thought, _I think he's had this on his mind for a while._

She could hardly fight something that had been building in his mind for so long.  But Elena was nothing if not optimistic.  She would make him feel better if she had to beat him over the head with the truth!

            "You know," she began casually, "Cait has had an interesting hobby lately."

            "What?"  Reeve asked.  Apparently this was not something he had been expecting.

            "He's been trying to find you a date.  It would seem that he just can't grasp the concept that if Reno can get women, why can't you."

            "I can't tell whether you are still trying to cheer me up or not."

            Elena pretended to ignore him.  "Poor little guy just can't wrap his head around it.  He seems to think that you should have more luck.  He can't understand why somebody nicer, warmer and friendlier should be so unlucky in that regard."

            "Elena, you're not helping."

            "And you know what?  I can't help but agree with him.  But I think I figured out what he could not. Women are drawn to a certain amount of self-confidence. You're a thick-headed idiot that is too self-conscious to realize what you have going for you."

            Reeve raised a single eyebrow in her direction at the insult. "Really?"  He asked unconvinced. 

            "Really." She affirmed.  "Over the past week or so I have seen a man devote himself into giving life to something most people would see as insignificant, a waste of time, too small to care about.  Then I have seen the same man try to preserve that life by stepping into the middle of a battle with total disregard for his own safety. When somebody destroyed everything he had worked so hard for he placed no blame on his friends whose responsibility it was. Finally I saw him want to throw himself in front of twenty armed guards for no other reason than that these friends of his were going to themselves.  This man is kind and considerate, warm and noble."  Finally she turned her head to face him and scowled at him rather over-dramatically.  "Pity the same fucking retard is to stupid to see that for himself."

            It took a few moments but a small smile began to creep over Reeve's face as the words slowly began to filter into his brain.  "I did notice you didn't mention anything about being intelligent."

            "And with good cause.  Intelligence doesn't make a wise man.  Just as fighting ability doesn't make a bona fide hero."

            They both fell into a comfortable silence after that, Reeve in deep thought, Elena in triumph.  She just sat there and watched him as he continued to gaze at the pond with a thoughtful expression on his face.  A light smile played over her features.

            "You win." He grumbled finally, focusing back onto the woman sitting beside him.  "I won't go in with you guys.  But I'll be nearby, you'll need me."

            "Of course we will.  Like I said, you may not be wise, but you are intelligent."

            "I'm not sure whether that was a compliment or not."

            "Both."

            "I also think I should have a word to Cait about privacy.  I was wondering why that girl at the weapons store was giving me a funny look as we passed when we were leaving the city."

            "Probably a good idea.  From the way he was talking later you might find yourself with an even less lovely match up for you."  Elena began almost embarrassed. 

            "Anyone I know?" Reeve asked curiously.

            "Someone sitting beside you in fact."

            Reeve just gaped at her.  Obviously he had been unaware of Cait's little attempts to get the two talking on the trip back to Icicle Village.  Specifically about Elena's lack of boyfriend and Reeve's lack of bed partners.  Thankfully, Reeve had seemed a little more concerned over what had happened to the lab in his absence than anything Cait was telling him.  A good thing too, considering Elena had been embarrassed beyond belief at what Cait was suggesting.  It was also a good thing that it was dark at the moment, or Reeve might have seen her cheeks color the moment she thought back to it.

            "I-I'm r-really sorry."  Reeve stuttered.  "I-I had no idea Cait was bothering you."

            "He wasn't bothering me."  Elena said a little too quickly.  "He was just trying to be nice.  He thinks very fondly of you and he only wants what he think will make you happy.  I was actually a little flattered that he would consider me. You being his own personal god."

            "Still…." Reeve began but he soon let that reply fade away.  "Flattered?"

            "Sure."  She could feel her cheeks growing a little hotter with the awkwardness of the conversation.  "Not everyday somebody thinks I'm worthy enough to be coupled with a 'god'."

            The attempted joke wasn't working to throw him off any. Elena wasn't sure whether that was good or bad. 

            "I'll tell him to stop.  He shouldn't be pestering you.  I don't care if he thinks if it's for a worthwhile cause."  Reeve grimaced, "Actually I don't even want to think of my love-life or lack thereof as a 'cause'.  Pathetic much?"

            Elena was almost fed up with the spiral of self criticism that Reeve seemed to be stuck in. 

            _Surely he doesn't believe all that.  How could he, it's not true!_

            One look at his face told her that it was true.  He really did think that badly about himself.

            _Well, _Elena thought suddenly, _I am not about to be proved wrong.  Not after all that!_

            Without a second more of hesitation Elena reached out, grabbed the front of Reeve's shirt and yanked him towards her with a surprising amount of strength, finally planting her lips firmly against his.

            She heard Reeve let out a muffled sound of shock before he seemed to succumb to the melting pressure of her lips against his.  She had only meant the kiss to be a quick action only meaning to silence the brooding man once and for all.  But soon she felt herself get lost in the sweet sensation.  The kiss deepened and she felt his hands move around behind her and draw her in closer.  It didn't matter, she wasn't really paying attention anymore.  All she could register was the closeness of his body, held now so firmly against her own, the interesting taste of honey roasted peanuts on his tongue and the vague impression of being watched by two pairs of very startled eyes.

            _Wait._

            She drew away quickly and her head whipping around the face where she felt the eyes watching from.  

            Reno looked as though somebody had just dumped a bucket of ice down his shorts while Cait looked like he had a just caught a fat canary.  His cheeks were puffed up, a smug look lighting up his eyes.

            "Mebbe we should give them some privacy."  Cait said a little belatedly. 

            He reached up and took a hold of the stunned Reno's hand and started tugging him back toward the house.

            After a moment more of gaping at the two sitting on the small rise, Reno let himself be led away muttering something like, "Geez, that's like walking in on your parents having sex.  I need a drink."

            "I hadn't even spent a whole day with them and they are already at it." Cait beamed proudly before going back into the house and out of earshot.  "Am I good or what?"

            Once they were gone Elena turned back to Reeve, breaking away from  him fully and blushing fiercely.

            Reeve smiled at her a little uncertainly before muttering, "I /really/ need to have that talk with Cait."

*******************

            Casting a final glance around the sun lightened forest around him, Cait closed his eyes and forced his mind to concentrate on what his eyes couldn't tell him.  From his initial study of the surrounding environment, Cait knew he was in a small clear area amongst the tall pines and smaller foliage in the woods just out of Icicle Village.  He knew every tree and bush that surrounded his little space and fixed the plan out in his mind for later use.  After all, it wasn't like he was allowed to open his eyes again.  He was going to give the men that were stalking him a fighting chance. He stood tensely in place, his staff gripped tightly in both his paws, head up and slightly cocked to the side, listening. Small animals, birds and insects surrounded him, but Cait ignored the distractions, his sights on bigger, deadlier things that might be lurking around.

He detected it before he heard it.  Slight movement off to his left side about eight meters away behind a large pine trunk.  Straining his ears now he could hear the very soft crunch of the snow beneath the man's light steps and the soft rapid breathing.

A second person appeared just behind Cait. This person was a little bigger judging by the slightly heavier footsteps, but this man's breathing came easier almost unnoticeable.  He also wasn't as quick as the first and only managed to gain a small amount of distance before stopping about five meters behind Cait, taking cover behind a small cluster of bushes.

The first kept coming, managing to cover twice the amount of distance in the time.

Cait was actually impressed.  These two were quite good, almost undetectable.  In fact they had managed to sneak up on Cait from quite a distance before he had noticed them.  Had he been anyone else, no doubt these two could've snuck right up on him without the slightest warning.

Cait didn't relax his stance, didn't even twitch.  He didn't want to give away to the two men undoubtedly watching, that he knew they were there. No, he wanted them to feel comfortable.  To get as close as they could before Cait did anything.

All at once everything happened.  He heard rather than sensed the soft whine of something metallic spin through the air toward his unguarded back.  Deftly twisting to the side, eyes still closed, he got out of the way of the small metallic projectile and split second later, hearing it imbed itself into a tree truck directly in front of him.  While he was slightly off balance, the smaller man behind the tree moved out toward him.  Cait only barely had enough time to bring his staff up in front of him before he felt the jarring impact of something heavily striking it almost making him loose his grip on his weapon.

Angrily he shoved his staff forward to dislodge his attackers weapon against his and opened his eyes to glare up at the man in front of him.

"Jeez Reno, were you planning to take my head off with that swing?"

Reno straightened up and hooked his nightstick back into place on his belt and smirked down at Cait.  "Most probably Cait."

Rude appeared out from behind the bushes he'd been hiding behind and walked over to retrieve the ninja star from the truck of the tree it had struck.  Once done he handed the weapon back to Cait.

"And what's with stealing my own weapons to use against me?  You know I doubt Reeve would be too thrilled if you broke me.  Remember we are only out here to test me out." Cait reminded tersely, "Not to kill me."

Reno scanned the area around them with a practiced eye.  "From how far away did you become aware of us?"

"About eight meters, and don't change the subject!"

Rude let out a long whistle to show his appreciation where Reno just grinned.

"I'm impressed.  I guess all that junk Reeve put in you earlier is working. Hearing, sonar whatever, all working?"

Cait seemed to think for a second before answering, lower lip drawn up behind a sharp metallic canine.  "I guess so.  It's weird getting new stuff.  It's hard to realize that I didn't have those skills before.  But I knew exactly where both of you were by instinct, and I could hear your footsteps and breathing.  Which reminds me, Reno you should really give up smoking, when I concentrated on you it sounded like I was listening to an asthmatic geriatric trying to climb up six flights of stairs."

Reno scowled at the little robot.  "I do not."

"Do too." Cait returned.

"Do not."

"Girls can we stop fighting."  Rude muttered wandering back toward the village.

One last annoyed glance at each other and the two followed Rude back toward Reeve's house.

It wasn't often that Cait was allowed out of the house of a daytime, and never without supervision.  In fact Reeve had seemed a little more inclined to let Cait wander around Wutai rather than his own home village.  This puzzled Cait.  Perhaps Reeve was this way because of what had happened to the lab, but Cait felt more certain that it had more to do with the fact that this /was/ his home village.  Cait knew of the rumors that Reeve had had to deal with.  People thinking he was creating monsters and weapons in his little house.  Cait couldn't blame Reeve for not wanting them to think that the rumors were true, but he also knew that he was hardly the monster demon from hell. From all accounts he looked like a small cute robot cat, not likely something that was going to snatch their children away in the night.

Still, he wouldn't dwell on it.  Reeve just needed time and he'd come around.  Until that time Cait would make the most out of his allowed outdoors time.  The beautiful forests that surrounded the village, the bright sun glinting off the white snow everywhere he looked, the small animals and birds that weren't around of a night and the sounds and smells of a wakeful town going about their business.  Cait reveled in all of this.  In fact he couldn't understand why the other two Turks didn't look impressed in the slightest.  

_Overexposure, _Cait decided.  _These were things the duo saw everyday. Why would they care?  _

It was then that Cait decided that being kept indoors was possibly a good thing.  He didn't want these experiences to get lost in familiarity.  He wanted to experience everything as he did now.  New and exciting, forever.

This lead Cait to another thought, _How long is forever? _Cait was familiar with the concept of death, but he hadn't once given thought to when that would be for him.  Did he have a set date when he would just cease to work, or would it be as much a surprise to him as it was to most people? Did he have an average lifespan as did most humans? 

These new, and decidedly depressing, thoughts occupied his mind so much so that he almost blundered right into the middle of a game of kickball the children were playing in the small park he and the Turks had crossed over into.  He was only saved by Reno's hand grabbing his cape and pulling him back.

"You know for what you did in the forest back there, you sure are blind with your eyes open."  Reno commented giving the assembled kids a wary look as they gaped at Cait.

"Sorry." Cait mumbled to Reno under his breath eyes now on the children as well.

The children ranged from the ages of around five to eight years of age and Cait wasn't sure if they were frightened by him or merely curious.  Remembering the children's reaction to him in Wutai, Cait just kept his head low and began shuffling passed. He didn't even notice when one of the older children stepped forward towards Cait, disregarding the pair of Turks that flanked the cat on both sides.

"Hullo."  The little girl began timidly.

Cait looked up at the girl in surprise to make sure that she had actually been talking to him. She had.  

Cait stared at the light-haired girl a moment longer trying to decide whether or not to talk back.  He didn't want her to be scared away like that other little boy.

"H-hello." Cait returned softly.

The girl beamed, her bright blue eyes lighting up with pleasure.

"Wow cool, you can talk!  Petie said you could," The girl said quickly gesturing vaguely at a dark-haired boy who stared at Cait in fright from behind on of the other children, "but Petie is such a liar most of the time.  My name is Kasey," she introduced abruptly holding out her small hand to Cait, "what's yours?"

Cait cast a furtive glance up at Reno before taking the girl's hand gently and bowing slightly.  "Cait Sith."

Kasey seemed to study the little paw in her hand for a moment before released it and began smiling again.  "You wanna come play Cait Sith?"

At this Cait's face seemed to brighten considerably and he gave Reno a rather pleading expression.  "Can I Reno?"

"Cait, Reeve will be…"

Reno was still looking at the children with a distrustful eye but the expression soon melted away with the hopeful look plastered on Cait's face.

"I'll wait with him."  Rude abruptly offered gesturing over to a nearby bench.

"Okay, but not for too long.  Reeve may need you back and I have to go tell him how the test went and see about El." A slightly concerned look passed over Reno's face.  "You'll be alright?"

Cait smiled and handed his little staff to Reno, nodding, "Of course, thanks Reno."

Still Reno didn't move. "Reno piss off, I'll be fine!"

With that Cait let himself be dragged over and into the game his tail swishing in apparent delight.

"Yeah this is a real good idea." He muttered to Rude.  "Make sure he doesn't teach the kids too many new words will you."

Rude even went so far as to smile slightly at that.

**********************

Almost the second the others had left the house on the test run in the woods, Elena had hurriedly disappeared pleading the need to get back to the Inn and take a shower.  Reeve hadn't really minded, even when it seemed that most of the reason for Elena's hasty departure was more out of uncomfortable ness rather than actual need for a shower.  He couldn't help but feel a little depressed that Elena didn't want to be around him, so his mind told him, but truth be told, he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it himself.

Thinking Elena's idea was a good one he took the opportunity of being alone to take a much needed shower himself.

Standing under the refreshing warm spray of the shower Reeve tried to sort through things in his mind.  

After the interruption last night, he and Elena hadn't really said much to each other at all.  An uncomfortable silence had settled over the pair before they hadn't finally decided to return to the amused stares of the rest of the assembled in Reeve's house.  He admitted it had been a while since he'd had to deal with anything like this and it wasn't helping that it had occurred with one of his closest friends. 

Reeve reached around and tugged the band out of his hair with frustrated little jerks.

What was even more maddening was that he actually liked her. A lot.  He wanted to tell her how he felt, but was scared off the idea because he wasn't sure of what she might say.  Sure /she/ had been the one to kiss /him/, but Elena hadn't seemed anything but regretful since and he couldn't help the depressing little feeling that maybe she hadn't really meant anything by it.  Maybe she had only done it to shut him up and stop his self bashing….

Okay so maybe /that/ sounded a little ridiculous. But he was almost certain that she probably regretted her actions.  Why else would she be avoiding him?

Above the noise of the spray, Reeve heard the distinct sound of somebody knocking on his front door.

_Since when did Reno get so well-mannered?_

Even more irritated, Reeve turned the shower off grabbed a towel and headed toward the door.  Managing to wrap the towel around his waist he yanked open the door to allow the Turk to enter.

"Reno, since when do you…"  The sentence died on his lips as he stared at the blond figure standing on his doorstep who had begun to blush slightly.

"Cara?"

"Hi Reeve."  Cara said warmly, cheeks flushing even more.

After a second of puzzlement, Reeve looked down at himself his own face beginning to burn.  

"Sorry," he apologized, "I thought you were someone else."

"So I heard."

She stood there for a while longer in silence, the basket she carried clasped nervously in her hands.  It took Reeve a while to realize how rude he was being.

"Oh sorry Cara, please come in."

"Thanks."

He stepped aside to allow her to enter, shutting the door behind her.  "How's your father?"

"He wanted me to tell you that Mr. Barker is keeping your job for you.  He says he didn't want to lose such a dedicated worker. My mother wanted me to bring you this after hearing about the troubles you have had with the burglary."

She set the basket down on a clear space of bench, "She cooked you some extra food." Cara laughed softly and rolled her eyes, "We tried to explain that it was doubtful they stole your stove as well, but she wouldn't have any of it.  She was worried about you."

            Cara's light smile was contagious, causing a similar smile to creep over Reeve's face.

            "Tell her thank you, the gesture is most kind."

            Cara cast her eyes over the benches around the room curious, "So what have you been doing with yourself.  You haven't come over for dinner in quite some time."

"I've had friends over." He explained. "And then came the trip to Wutai.  I have one more small trip coming up, but then I should be able to get back to work."

            Cara nodded obviously pleased, her eyes returning to settle on him fully. "That's good, I think my father has missed you from work. He hopes you are still up for it."

            Reeve grimaced slightly in reminder to the taxing work he was doing before.  At first he had tried to keep his fitness levels up, but as the time had passed since he had taken his break from it he had slackened off a bit.  He knew he was still in good shape, after work like that he couldn't not be, but he knew he still wasn't up to scratch.

            "So I do."

            He noticed Cara run a subtle eye over him, reminding him uncomfortably of his lack of clothing.  He hadn't been sure which would be ruder, leaving her to get dressed or staying as he was.  Seeing her look now, he decided on the latter.  From what he knew of Cara she was a nice, almost shy girl and he wondered vaguely whether she realized she was even giving him the look.

            "Oh I don't know.  You still look pretty good to me."

            Luckily Reeve didn't have much time to think about that comment too much, the door suddenly opening.

            "You should have seen it El," came Reno's loud voice as he backed through the door, his attention locked on the other Turk behind him. "He saw us coming a mile off. I gotta tell ya…"

            Reno's voice trailed off after realizing that he had lost Elena's attention. Her gaze had left Reno and was now standing on the doorstep gaping at the other two occupants in the room.

            Reno turned around in confusion, his own eyes settling on the young blond woman across from Reeve, a predatory grin lighting up his face.

            "Why hello."

            Reeve now thoroughly embarrassed made a feeble attempt at introductions.  

            "Cara, these are my friends, Elena and…"

            "Reno." Reno said for himself gliding in closer to take the young lady's hand and boldly brushing it lightly against his lips and offering her a wolfish smile while doing so.

            Reeve almost groaned at the sight of his friend's see-through attempts but kept quiet only too aware of the odd look he was receiving from the direction of the doorway.

            Cara smiled uncertainly.  "Well, I better get back.  It was nice meeting you all."

            "A pleasure."  Reno told her with as much sincerity as he could muster.

            "Thanks Cara.  Tell your parents that I send them my thanks as well."

            "Of course."  Cara assured managing to break away from Reno's grip on her hand.  "I'll see you when you get back Reeve."

            Elena let the woman pass then turned to shut the door behind her. "She was…nice."  

            "Wasn't she?" Reno said almost wistfully.  "So that's Cara huh? No wonder you didn't want to introduce us before.  She's quite something."

            "She's also eighteen Reno, little too young for you."  Reeve replied sternly. "She's also the daughter of my friend."

            "Eighteen is never considered too young.  Besides you're older than I am."

            Reeve stood there for a few moments, wondering how that sentence could possibly have made sense.  "Yes."

            "Let's not forget who was the one standing in his living room entertaining this 'girl' practically naked."

            Reeve quickly brushed the comment aside.  "I had to get out of the shower and answer the door.  I didn't know it was her, I expected it was you."

            Reno smiled charmingly and gave Reeve a wink "I'm touched Reeve, really."

            "Blow me." Reeve said back, heading back toward the bathroom.

            "Funny," Reno called after him, "That's exactly what I was going to say to Cara."

            They both heard the bathroom door slam closed, Reno immediately turning his grin to his fellow Turk.

            "If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're a bad influence on that man."

            A couple of seconds later, Reeve poked his head out of the bathroom door, a worried expression on his face.  

            "Where's Cait?"

***********************

Notes:  Alrighty, things are moving along nicely. Next chapter they will be heading for Junon to see what can be done about the troublesome Mr. Ryder. What did you all think of the kiss?  As if you all couldn't see it coming and all that read my stuff will also know that nothing romantic is ever simple.  Of course they couldn't just kiss then go off somewhere quiet and fuck each others brains out like what happens usually, no they have to deal with issues and misunderstandings.  Fun isn't it?

_            While I was thinking that I might have this thing knocked over by the ninth chapter I have enough planned out to constitute a tenth.  No great shock there.  For the entire series I have been saying it will be finished soon and it hasn't. In fact I could plot out another five chapters easily if I were so inclined.  Depends how desperate people are for more.  It should finish at ten if you don't hound me otherwise (and I don't think you will), this not being as popular as "Monsters" or "Temp Insanity".  But I'm open to suggestions and I'll need to know before the tenth chapter is written. It's up to you, but I get the feeling more people are waiting for me to get on with other stories. _

_            We'll see_

_            AF_

_            anime_fearie@excite.com_

_            All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_            http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_            Oh and one other thing.  I have a mailing list going on Neo Midgar for those of you who would like update news and extra previews._


	9. Chapter 9

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 9

*****

            "So this is the game plan.  Two teams.  Rude and I below ground level.  We will try to infiltrate the basement through the sewer system that runs directly underneath the building.  Elena and Cait will try to access the building via the roof, skimming across from the neighboring building.  You two are the lightest so the wire will support you both easier than either Rude or myself.  Reeve is going to be positioned outside in the truck.  He'll stay in radio contact at all times."

            That said Reno lent further back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.  His other companions seated around the dining table just nodded.

            "Now you've all seen the building plans I 'borrowed' from the planners office yesterday.  I've spoken to each of you about what to do.  Everything is set to go for tomorrow night.  Any questions?"

            He looked at each of them in turn and noted the determined faces of each.  With of course the exception of one.  Cait was looking around the room, not seemingly having his entire concentration focused on the conversation.

            "I have a question."  He said, "How do you live in such squalor?  Your house is disgusting Reno."

            "Any serious questions?"  Reno asked again, gently massaging his temples with his fingers.

            Elena raised her hand.

            "This isn't school El."

            Elena flushed a little, but asked her question anyway.  "What  do we have in the way of equipment.  We didn't really go over that before we left Icicle Village."

            Reno motioned for Reeve to answer this one.  Even though the two had gone over each detail together exhaustively for two whole days previously, Reno still had some troubling remembering what each and every thing did.  One thing was for sure, Reeve had sure come good on his promise and the Turks now had enough advanced equipment to strike fear into the late great Shinra, let alone a pocket of maniacs living in Junon.

            Reeve fumbled around the papers laying strewn across the Reno's table for a few minutes till he found exactly what he was looking for.  He had worked almost non-stop to get everything together by the time they came here and finally he was able to state proudly that they had quite a fearsome inventory.  Nothing in the way of diabolical weapons of mass destruction ( a fact that Reno had bitched about for almost three days), but mostly in the way of safety and stealth.

            "Each of you will be outfitted with protection suits.  They will cover traces of heat signatures, movement and will to some degree protect you from  some injury.  Not bullets," Reeve said quickly seeing hopeful looks from all those assembled, "Glancing blows from knives and absorb some light blows.  Don't forget none of this stuff is fool proof.  Most of it hasn't even been tested properly.  These suits aren't exactly heavy but they're not light-weight either.  They're skin tight, hot and for the most possibly uncomfortable.  But they will give you freedom of movement.  On the arm," He said gesturing toward his own left forearm, "Will be a small rectangle screen that will show you exactly where all other members of your team are as well as give you a vague idea on the well being of your suit and your own body.  Heart  rate, malfunctions excreta. All this will also be monitored by me back in the van.  So if you are in trouble and can't call for help, chances are I'll be able to relay such information for you. 

The most interesting aspects of this suit is its reaction to materia usage.  It the sensors in the suit detect any form of spell casting and will erect a magic barrier around the wearer.  It's of Gast's design and I'm still not totally sure how it works but in the tests I ran it proved very effective at numbing the effects of the spells. Only problem being that while the suit is active you can't use any materia on yourselves either such as Cure or Barrier."

  Here Reeve paused to let all this sink in before plunging on toward the next piece. "As well as your own usual weapons, I came across some notes of Gast's that were actually intended to be used toward manufacturing weapons for the Turks.  Unfortunately the project didn't get finished.  The most interesting in these notes was a handgun.  Probably not unlike usual handguns in appearance except it's a little bigger, has a targeting laser, slightly bigger magazines and, most impressively, an automated targeting function that once activated will allow the chamber to move freely and track anything in the  room that is moving. In dim or absolutely no light, such a thing could be invaluable.

"The rest of the gear you're already aware of.  Glasses to detect electrical equipment and the like.  The rest of the major improvements are in Cait. Movement detection, superior hearing, you've seen it work.  All data collected by your suits and Cait I will be able to monitor."

"Impressive for such a small amount of time."  Rude commented.  "Little over a week."

"I actually had most of the plans for this stuff with me." Now Reeve looked a little sheepish.  "I had intended to give you the prototypes before we parted again.  I did promise Reno something for your services before all of this happened."

"Except the guns."  Reno put in.  Reeve had told him all this before whilst they had been going over the plans.  "Before he was adamant about not giving us anything lethal. Amazing how your perspective can change when a couple of bastards screw you over."

"Amazing what you can accomplish in such a small amount of time too."  Reeve agreed sourly.  

"So,"  Reno began bringing the conversation back on track, "Everybody knows their duties.  I suggest everybody gets some rest before the big event.  Everybody is free to crash here if they so desire."  He offered.

Rude, who in fact inhabited the apartment three doors up from Reno just looked at him stupidly.  "I'm sure I'll make it up the hallway."

"I don't feel like trekking back over to my apartment."  Elena told him wearily.  

Reeve just shrugged.  "Cheaper than a hotel considering whatever money I /did/ have has now well and truly been spent."

"Fine."  Reno nodded getting up from the table and heading over the phone.  "You two can fight over the spare room, staying for pizza Rude?"

*****

Reeve was only too happy to take the couch to avoid any uncomfortable situations.  It was only now that he pulled the sixth item of Reno's dirty laundry from underneath the couch cushions that he began to rethink his hasty decision.  He sat up and hurled the sock across the room, unfortunately the odor didn't follow it.

Screwing up his nose Reeve stood up and made his way to the kitchen thinking that a glass of milk might help him sleep.  On the way he pulled his 

t-shirt up over his head and tossed it back toward the couch.  While tossing and turning on the couch he had been sweating rather uncomfortably.  Hopefully it was a result of Junon's unseasonable warmth rather than stress over the mission.  

            The fact of the matter was that he wasn't used to this kind of stress.  The only missions he had ever been on, it had been Cait really, not him.  His shoulders were tight, his neck was sore and he was nauseated.  All could be blamed on the heat, couch and pizza.  But he knew he was deluding himself.

            Opening the refrigerator, Reeve wasn't at all surprised to find that Reno didn't actually have any milk.  In fact all Reno did have was a shit load of beer, a half eaten pizza, a brown lettuce and, curiously, a pair of socks.

            "Couldn't sleep?"

            Reeve whirled around in surprise to see Elena standing by the kitchen doorway. She was wearing one of Reno's old shirts that fit her like a short loose dress.  On the front was a picture of the famous summon Bahumut letting loose with his flaming attack together with a caption that read; 'Better out than in.'  Reeve grinned.

            "Nah.  I think that couch is spouting new life forms out of Reno's dirty clothes.  Did I wake you?"

            "I wasn't asleep."

            She came into the room proper and leant against the benchtop opposite Reeve.  "I wanted to talk to you." 

            Reeve began to look decidedly awkward.  "Oh yes?"

            Elena appeared to be in deep thought for a minute, her brow creased as if she couldn't decide exactly how to begin.  Finally she looked up at him, but she wasn't smiling.

            "Who's Cara?"

            Reeve almost laughed at the question but he checked himself in time.  He had expected something else.

            "The daughter of one of the guys I work with."

            "She's seems….nice."

            Reeve nodded.  "She is a very nice /young/ girl.  

            Elena prodded herself off the bench, nodding to herself, apparently satisfied with the answer, catching the emphasis on the word /young/.

            "Good."

            Reeve shut the, until now, forgotten fridge.  "Look Elena I…"

            But he didn't get a chance to finish.  The moment he turned back to Elena she had suddenly closed the gap between them, her lips quickly finding his  He felt her arms go around his neck and her body press in close to his.   The crushing warmth of her body and her lips in the sudden attack was making his head spin. Wrapping his arms around her waist he clung to her fiercely, and deepened the kiss.  

            This wasn't like before.  Before it had almost been tentative, unsure.  Never could he have imaged kissing her would feel like this.  This was Elena! The attractive, strong-willed Turk, with the compassion and caring of someone Reeve had awed since meeting.  Suddenly it became too much for him. He needed a little air, no matter how pleasureable the experience.

            Pulling away slightly, but not so much as to break the embrace.  Reeve took a deep breath and gazed down at her unable to speak.  He knew he must look a little shocked under his flushed appearance.

            Elena just gave him a slow and lazy smile.            

            "What?"  She asked innocently.

            "What?"  He snorted with a small breathless chuckle.  "What? You say? You know very well 'What'. Is this about Cara?"

            "I was a little jealous."  She admitted.  "Besides, I saw you first. Let Reno infuriate the poor girl's father."

            "I was worried you were avoiding me. You could have said something sooner."

            Elena kissed him once quickly and stepped away from him and back toward the door.  "I believe I just did. Besides," She continued taking another step back, "I had more to say to you, and this is the first time we've been alone since we left the village.  Seemed like a more opportune time, besides it should help you sleep better."

            Reeve cast a baleful look at the sofa through the kitchen doorway over Elena's shoulder.  "Of that, I have doubts."

            Elena followed his look, before smiling secretly at him.  "You weren't listening to me.  I told you I had more to say to you.  That is of course if you don't mind staying up a little while longer."

            With that, Elena turned and walked out of the door and back toward the hallway that would lead to the guest room.

            Reeve stood there in confusion for a moment longer before his brain finally decided to start working again.  If Elena's idea of talking ended up in her kissing him before….

            Reeve caught up to her halfway down the hallway.  He scooped her up into his arms without breaking step and then preceded to carry the giggling woman into the guest room, kicking the door closed behind him.

*

In the room across the hall Cait lifted his head off his paw, and looked around the room, swearing he'd heard something.  

He looked to the man whose blanket covered legs he'd been laying across and noted that the man was still snoring heavily.

Eventually Cait shrugged and powered down once more.  He must have been imagining it, but he could have sworn he'd heard someone call out Reeve's name…

****************************

"I. Look. Like. Something. Out of a. Costa Del Sol. SURFING MAGAZINE!!!"

Elena looked her boss over and giggled quietly.  "You look very techie Reno, not very surfie."

Reeve was trying very hard not to laugh himself.  Although none of the Turks looked /bad/ in what they were wearing, they definitely didn't look like themselves.  Though in some cases it quite suited them.  Especially when he looked at Elena.  The form fitting suit molded itself perfectly to her body showing every curve from the tips of her tall boots, over her slender hips and  over the flat planes of her stomach up to the high neck.  In fact the muted black suit seemed more so to enhance each curve so much so that Reeve had blushed so fiercely when she'd put it on that she had immediately felt the need to put something on over it.  She hadn't though and had soon forgotten it after seeing her co-workers in the same get up.

The armor in the suits actually filled the chest and shoulders out more than the rest of the suit.  While all it seemed to do on Elena was to enhance her bust size (which none of the guys seemed to mind) it gave Rude a look that could only be matched by the incredible hulk.  All he needed was a cape and a big 'R' emblazoned on his chest and the guy could actually pass for a real superhero.  Muscley, huge and dangerous looking, it almost made Reeve feel sorry for the guys whom they were about to let loose on.

"I feel like I should be scuba diving."  Reno whined again.

Personally Reeve didn't see the need.  Although Reno was often described as being weedy, it was often (in Reeve's opinion)  a result of seeing the man standing next to Rude too often.  He was lean sure, but the armor and the did more for him than his baggy suit ever could. It filled his chest out and traced every line of sinewy muscle in his arms, shoulders and the rest of his body. In reality it looked made for him. Especially the gun holsters attached gun-slinger style from his belt and strapped to each leg. It was the same style with all of them, but only with Reno did it seem to suit him to a tee. 

"You look more like something out of Mission: Impossible." Reeve corrected a little dryly. He couldn't help the little voice that told him that he wouldn't look as good or as suited in such a cool getup. 

He caught Elena's eye, the look on her face seeming to say; "_I know what you are thinking and your full of shit." _But he chose to ignore it.

"He was right the first time."  Cait piped in from his position on Reno's desk. "He looks like a dick."

The comment only sent off another wave of sniggers directed at Reno, who glared at the grin Cait was giving him.  

Cait had been in a chipper mood ever since waking and Reeve knew that Cait was aware of what had happened between him and Elena last night.  Actually he was rather embarrassed to discover that the entire household seemed to know.

Reno had actually wandered into their room just after they had woken, acting as though nothing were amiss and proceeded to park himself in between the pair (thankfully /over/ the covers) and read his newspaper in his boxer shorts.  Intent and seemingly content to just make the pair feel embarrassed, his only comment regarding their nightly activities being;

"Hey there are worse things that have been done in this room, and with more people."

Reeve cringed to think about it, not disbelieving Reno's word one bit.

"This coming from a robot that thought my microwave was a demon from the 7th layer of hell sent to kill him for stealing it's food."

Reno's retort bought Reeve back to the present.  While the four were caught up in their play, he took the opportunity to think things through a lot more carefully.  He'd been doing a lot of that since coming to Junon and had begun to regret his hasty words of going after the thieves.  It was all well and good for him to want his stuff back, but as he looked at the people that were about to risk their lives over /his/ belongings, his doubts increased tenfold.  

_How can I justify this?  This isn't their fault, or their fight.  Not really.  They are my friends, my only friends, _He thought a little more sourly remembering that none of AVALANCHE so far had bothered to check up on him in all the time he'd spent away, _I don't want anything to happen to them._

Elena must have noticed the grim look Reeve had on his face and her own brow creased in concern.

"Reeve?  Are you okay?"

The others stopped talking at the question and suddenly Reeve found himself the center of attention. For once he didn't really mind.  He had an important question to ask them.

"Do you all really want to go through with this?  I mean I know I talked you into it, but if you decide it's too dangerous I'll understand."

"At this point you couldn't stop me if you tried."  Cait said simply.  "They have my Mog."

Reeve didn't think that the Mog was worth dying over, but he didn't mention that to Cait.  The Mog wasn't worth much to them if they couldn't figure out Gast's notes and that had taken Reeve over a month to sort out.

"Nothing that wouldn't have been addressed sooner or later." Rude explained with a surprising amount of words.

"Right," Reno added, "Let's face it, Ryder would have come after us sooner or later.  We just have surprise on our side if we go for him where he lives.  Shove a stick up his ass while he's not looking so to speak."

Elena put her hand on his wrist, the glove of her suit feeling like soft leather, "It's our fight as much as yours. And we have the advantage now."

Reeve nodded and smiled.  It wasn't all the assurance he needed to stop feeling guilty, but it helped.

***

_Okay so this chapter is really really short. I had intended more before the big mission, but as it turned out, I don't think I can.  I also wrote more early on in the chapter during the Reeve/Elena scene but wasn't sure if I wanted to include and NC-17 rated chapter in here. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for gratuitous sex scenes, but I usually don't add them in my long-standing fics. Maybe later I'll add a NC-17 version of Chapter 9. Teehee.  But not now.  Now I must concentrate on the task ahead. And get my Turks to kick some ass. YeHaw!_

_AF_

anime_fearie@excite.com

All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar

http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/


	10. Chapter 10

**_Important Note: Due to a problem, CHAPTER 9 has been REPLACED for this fic and can now be read in its entirety. I strongly suggest going back and reading that chapter before continuing onto Chapter 10. Also for any readers following one of my other series 'Monsters', part two 'I Will Be The One', Chapter 7 of that has also been replaced and Chapter 8 has been posted. Thankyou so much for reading and pls enjoy the fic!_**

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 10

****

            For the sixth time since putting on the suit, Reno stopped in place and attempted to readjust himself into a more comfortable position inside the tight suit.

            "You know all the enemy has to do is send five or six scantily clad chicks in our direction and we'd be out of action for the night.  I feel like if I take a deep breath I'm going to injure something."

            Rude stopped a few paces ahead of Reno and held the light up above his head to see his friend a little more clearly.

            "I'm sure they didn't have you in mind when they designed it." Rude said by way of a joke.

            Reno wasn't laughing, but Reeve was.  Both Turks could hear him through the headsets Reeve had given them just prior to their jaunt into Junon's sewer system.

            /" If you are really that concerned Reno I'll ease your mind by telling you that the suit will give to your body's actions.  It's designed that way for easier movement."/

            "That's lovely Reeve." Reno spat back sarcastically, "But I doubt you'd be so cheerful if it were your body's actions that were being so restricted."

            /"You'll get used to it."/ Reeve assured.  

            With one last attempt, Reno gave up and started after Rude again, his boots sloshing through the foul smelling water beneath his feet.

            "I sure hope they don't have a good sense of smell either."  Reno said in disgust of his surroundings.  "That is not something I want written on my tombstone.  'Tracked down and killed by bathing beauty with a really big nose.'"

*

"At least you could say you went down like a man." Reeve replied easing back into his chair in front of the monitors set for keeping track of the Turks.

Reeve had been surprised that the hastily set up surveillance center had ended up looking as good as it did. The van's back section had been gutted to make room for all Reeve's equipment in a little under a day.  Okay it still looked like nothing more than the getaway van of a radio shack heist, but how everything was set up, Reeve was now able to monitor his companions in the building with ease.  At the table he sat in front of his various monitors were set up for radio, suit monitoring and Cait's functions as well as one extra for whatever he might be focusing on at the moment.  Next to the last monitor sat a handgun.  Last resort if Reeve was found out.  At least that is what Reno had told him when he had handed it to him.

/"Yeah if anyone could actually hear what I was saying.  My voice would probably be too high for human ears to hear."/

Another voice interrupted the conversation. /"You know it's really hard to concentrate with you guys yammering in the background."/ The voice was Elena's and very quiet.

"Where are you?"  Reeve asked.

/"Dangling from a thin metal wire four stories above a cement sidewalk. And trying to concentrate on not falling while getting Reno whining about his dick in my ear./"

*

Elena heard Reeve chuckle in her ear but felt it was a little forced.  No doubt he was still a little uneasy about her and Cait's way into the building.  Making a quick glance over her shoulder toward the ground, Elena didn't feel much better about it herself.

She had been forced to keep this position about three quarters of the way across to the building since Cait had told her that the snipers patrolling the roof had come over to their side of the building.  Her arms and legs that she used to cling to the wire were tiring though and she was looking forward to the time when Cait would scurry back over to her and tell her to continue moving.  

Raising her head she could see Cait dangling by his tail from the wire, eyes closed and concentrating on tracking the guards above them on his sonar. It was quite a funny sight actually, he looked like a napping opossum. Still it was the only way he could hold onto the wire for any long stretch of time, his paws not being designed for any lengthy amount of work like this.

As she watched him he opened his eyes and swung himself back up onto the top of the wire, risking a quick peek over the edge of the rooftop.  Seemingly satisfied with what he found he began scuttling back over to where she hung, balancing easily and walking along the thin wire as if it were a foot wide pathway. Reaching her position he dropped back down below the wire line and let his tail catch him. Upside down, he was now able to look at Elena's face directly.

"They've moved to the western side of the roof.  But there are about two more of them than we expected. What do you want to do?"

Elena blinked at Cait in surprise. "Two? That makes four of them."

/"Glad to hear you can still count Elena."/ Came Reno's dry comment from over her radio. /"Whatever you are going to do, do it quietly.  Remember we want to draw them down in the bottom levels"/

"Yeah so you and Rude can make all the noise you want." Elena complained.  But she knew it was the truth, Reno had explained the plan to her and it counted on flushing all resistance out of the top floors (their objective), to the floors below.  "Ideas?" Elena asked shooing Cait away so she could continue her crawl along the wire.

Cait swung back up onto the wire and proceeded her keeping a lookout.

/"Sleep materia?"/ Reeve offered.

/"Wouldn't last long enough."/ Reno informed them. /"Besides, we don't have any. You have a silencer for your weapon El, use it."/

Reno's voice came back a little strained as if he were doing something strenuous.  That meant they were probably shifting the heavy metal plates that would take them up into the basement of the building. 

It made no difference where they were, the plan didn't depend on them timing this accurately, there was no need.  

Cait scrambled over the edge of the roof, dropping down out of Elena's sight just as Reno informed them all, /"We're in.  Basement is deserted. Storage, we'll make for the service elevator."/

Forcing her tired muscles to keep going, Elena disconnected the cord from around her waist and  pulled herself up over the side of the roof.  Cait had been right, the guards weren't around this side yet and the other side was blocked by a small building that Elena assumed led to the stairs.  She could easily sneak across the roof to the door leading to the stairwell. But Reno had made one point clear to her; Leave an enemy behind you and you'll get stabbed in the back. 

Motioning for Cait to follow she crept silently across the roof and put her back against the building.  Reaching down she tugged one of her guns free and bent down to whisper in Cait's ear.

"Think you can get up onto that roof?" She asked pointing up to the top of the small building.

Cait eyed the distance along with the featureless wall that provided no handholds whatsoever. "With a boost." He whispered back. "What do you have in mind?"

"Distraction."

Nodding, Cait let himself be picked up and boosted up onto the roof. Once done she crept over to the side and watched two of the sniper converge at the edge of the far rooftop to talk quietly to each other. The small conference didn't last long. Something whizzed through the air at the two guards striking one in the arm

"What the…" His hand went immediately to his arm where the other points of the ninja star drew blood from his palm. "Fuck."

Elena crept around the corner and lined up her shot.  Three quick shots and the two gunmen were on the ground.  The other two didn't stand opened mouthed for long after seeing their two comrades' attacker and began grappling with their rifles, trying to bring them to bear.  It didn't much matter at this point, the first went down to Elena's gun before his gun was even half-way up, the other being rudely distracted by a magical lightening bolt coming from the direction of the roof.  Elena finished him off before he had a chance to recover.

"Roof's clear." She announced a little breathlessly.

*

Reno smiled.  "One less worry.  Get down on the next floor and take a look around if you can.  That's where all the big brass and choice hauls should be."

/"On my way."/ She replied.

After the end of the conversation Reno turned his attention back to the roof of the elevator above him.  The service door was open, Rude had already crawled through.  

"Need a hand?" Rude called down impatiently.

Reno scowled up at his friend and made a jump for the opening a few feet above his head.  Talking as he strained his arms to pull him up and through he said; "I'm shorter than you but I'll bet you a hundred gil I make it up that shaft line quicker than you, you muscle bound freak." The last word came out a might more strained as Reno finally got up out of the hole.  

Rude kicked the trapdoor closed behind them, immediately plunging the two into darkness.  Rude pulled two pairs of slim night goggles out of his pack on his back and roughly shoved another pair in Reno's general direction. He ended up almost hitting his friend in the face. 

"I'll take that bet."

Now that he had the goggles on he could see Reno's smirk as he put his pair on.

"Race ya."

Reno made a jump for the elevator cable and very nearly slid straight back down it.  Gritting his teeth he readjusted his grip and began pulling himself up the cable.

"Watch out, it's very greasy." Reno warned.

Rude grunted a reply and began his ascent right behind Reno on the second cable.  

Once acclimatized to the climb, Reno was able to make the ascent easily enough while his friend still plodded along behind.  Unfortunately Rude's own bulk was against him causing him to slip one foot for every three he gained.  It was slow going but the man, with a show of amazing strength, made it up to where Reno was.  Reno reached across and grabbed for a handhold on the side of the shaft.  They were directly across from the closed metal elevator doors that would lead out onto the second level.  They hadn't been stupid enough to use the service elevator itself, the movements probably being monitored, but it left them with the task of having to open the steel doors themselves.  After missing the ledge near the doors a second time, Reno finally stopped and concentrated on balancing himself on the cable.  This time he made a jump for it.  He slid down the wall a little after hitting it fairly solidly, but managed to catch himself on the ledge in time.  He boosted himself up onto the narrow ledge.  Winded, but smirking slightly he looked back at his friend and asked;

"Need a hand?"

Rude gave him his version of a dirty look before reaching out and grabbing the ledge just next to Reno's booted feet.  Watching his friend do something easily he'd been unable to do for lack of reach, he was almost tempted to step on his hand.

"You're lucky we're friends Rude."

/"Um Reno?"/ Elena's whispered voice interrupted. /"About checking out the 3rd story.  If I tried I'd probably be shot before making it three foot from the stairwell.  It's covered in people."/

"Shit." Reno swore. 

As Rude continued to pull himself up onto the small ledge Reno just stood there, his lower lip drawn up between his teeth as he thought.

"How many?" He finally asked.

/"Five guards down the first corridor,"/ Cait replied instantly, /"Another ten spread out over the floor through various rooms."/

/"You need to get the guards out of the hall and down to the lower levels."/ Reeve said.  /"But Cait has also picked up a number of security cameras on the level as well.  We may need to cut the power."/

/"What if they have a backup generator?"/ Elena asked.  /"Wouldn't the camera's run off that?"/

/"Emergency lighting and systems only."/ Reeve answered. /"I checked.  Odds are though that as soon as the power goes, they'll know something is going on."/

"They'll know that as soon as the guards on the roof don't report.  Doesn't matter, part of the plan required them knowing. I'll take care of it. Reeve, shut off the power.  El hold tight and wait for my go ahead. Once the guards leave the corridor, Cait should be able to tell you who's where and how many. You know where to go.  I'm sending Rude up meet you."

/"How do you know the guards will leave this level?"/ Elena asked dubiously.

"They will."  Reno replied confidently. To Rude he said; "Get off on this level, you don't want to be caught in the shaft if they use the service elevator.  Across this next floor there should be an emergency stairwell that will take you up to Elena."

Without another word, Reno jumped back onto the cable and fought to keep himself from sliding back down it too quickly.

"What are you going to do?" Rude asked him.

The smirk was back.  "I'm going to make some noise." He responded as he began back down the cable.

*

Turning back to the screen in front of him, Reeve used his portable computer to gain access to the old server for the Shinra offices that used to be housed in Junon.  He had made sure that the server was still working last night just in case something like this was likely to arise.  As he had suspected, nobody had bothered to shut it down yet.  And with good reason.  The same server was connected directly to the computers that ran the reactor.  Without having a high level Shinra representative to access the system and disconnect it from the reactor, there was no telling what the effect might be.  Reeve knew the effect. Hell, he had been the one to insist on the link to the reactor so he could monitor the reactor from the surface.  And the effect shutting down the entire system without any safety precautions was;

Absolutely nothing.

It didn't matter. But the Junon officials didn't know that.  

It was no great feat getting into the system.  Reeve still had his own pass code.  Lucky too, hacking into the system would have been next to impossible even if Reeve did have the slightest inkling on how to accomplish that.

Once into the system, he got into the reactor computers.  Once into the reactor computers, with his clearance, he now had the ability to shut the power off for different sectors in the city.  Any techs that tried to fix it, would have a very hard time trying to correct it as well.  After all, the reactor was a Shinra invention and Reeve had the highest clearance to any and all reactors around the world. Except the president of course.  And he found it highly unlikely that Rufus was about to come back from the dead and override his commands.  

He was just glad that Junon was one of the last towns that still hadn't changed its power resources yet.

With a few more keystrokes, Reeve shut the power off.

*

Reno dropped down from the air vent just as the lights went out. He had taken his goggles off just before entering the vent and had quickly found a corridor on the first level that seemed devoid of guards for the moment.  He was only standing in darkness for a few seconds before the dim emergency lights kicked back on.

Unfortunately timing was not on Reno's side. As the lights came on a guard scrambled around the corner to find Reno standing in the middle of the hall. Before the guard had a chance to call out or bring his own weapon to bear, Reno flung himself across the hall and through an open doorway pulling his left handed gun out on the way.

He heard the guard creep a little closer to the door causing Reno to roll his eyes.  

_Don't any of these boys have brains in their heads?_

He pulled his other gun free off its holster and sent a shot from each down the corridor toward the approaching guard.  Reno didn't expect either bullet to hit the other man, it had been a blind shot around a corner designed to scare the guard into falling back.  He was delightedly surprised to hear a cry of pain followed by a painful yell for help.

A quick peek around the corner showed Reno that the man was down, a gunshot would in his left leg and right shoulder.  He'd also dropped his weapon, his right arm being rendered useless.

Still not believing his luck, Reno left the safety of the doorway and swaggered up to the wounded man and smiled down at him.

"My lucky day."

It was then that he remembered what Reeve had told him about the guns.  Checking on his suspicion, Reno found that the automatic tracking on the guns had been on.  He hadn't hit the man, the guns had.

Reno scowled at the guns and flicked the mechanism off. "Hardly sportsmanlike." He muttered raising both guns and taking two more shots at the guard. Both struck the man in the heart.

"Much better."

Spinning the right hand gun round his finger once, he put it back into its holster.  Pulling his nightstick from where it was secured on his belt he started down the hall in the direction the guard had come from, the nightstick being scrapped across the walls and doorways as he walked.  

Then he began to sing.

*

Elena heard the off-key singing and winced, as did Cait who was crouched down beside her.

"I'm almost hoping someone shoots him. What does he think he's doing?"

"Making some noise to flush the guards off this floor."  Rude said as he came up the stairs behind her.

Elena turned and greeted him with a rather relieved look.  "Will they even know he's down there?" Elena asked dubiously.  "Maybe they're radio systems got shut off with the power."

"They did." Cait answered with a strained look that told Elena he was extending his sensors as far as he could for readings.  "The radio systems are down, but they should have heard the gunshots from the 2nd level. "

Cait looked around their area on the stairwell for a moment, his eyes coming to rest on an air vent high up on the wall behind them

"Give me a boost?" He asked.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked not liking the idea of letting Cait out of her sight for one minute.

"I want to have a look around, most of the rooms should have vent openings, this is hardly Junon high security prison.  I can probably go and see if those cameras have shut down as well. Besides," he added jerking a thumb in Rude's direction, "He smells like Reno's cooking, it's getting up my nose."

"Reeve?" Elena asked.

/"He should be alright."/ Reeve answered. /"Just don't do anything rash Cait alright?"/

"Course not Reeve." Cait assured a little too happily. 

After prying the grate off, Rude helped Cait up into the shaft.  Cait was small enough to walk down in on all fours.  The last thing they saw of Cait was the white spot on the tip of his tail before he vanished into the gloom.

Elena cracked the door in front of her and took a quick look at the corridor before closing it quickly. She looked to Rude and shook her head.

"Reno, they guards aren't leaving."

*

"They aren't?" Reno asked from his current position crouched just outside  an open door.  Inside, the room was black, the sounds of a dripping tap could be heard from within.

"Give me a…"

His sentence was rudely cut off when a burst of magical fire ignited the air around him.  Unsurprisingly he didn't feel any pain as a bluish barrier sprung up around him, shielding him from the flames.  Obviously the suit had worked.

Reno cast an irritated glance around behind him to find a man standing in the middle of the corridor, a green material orb slotted into a silver bangle he wore around his wrist.  He looked shocked that Reno had not fallen or been at all injured by the powerful spell.  Reno was just annoyed that the little prick had been able to sneak up to him without him realizing.

Casually he swung his nightstick around to point at the man and discharged a lethal bolt of energy.  The man went down twitching as Reno turned back to his original position.

"You're distracting me." He told Elena irritably.  "Give me a few minutes and I'll have them down here."

Securing his nightstick to his belt he pulled both guns out and stood up.  Without any more hesitation he walked through the doorway, flicking the lights on as he went.  The lights were still on emergency mode, but it was more than enough to see by.  He was in the mess hall.  A more than two dozen long steel tables were set out in neat rows with accompanying benches.  

Reno smiled a little weirdly when he realized where he was. He knew that the bulk of the organization lived on the premises but it hadn't stated on the plans which floor exactly housed all those people.  He had just assumed it would be the second floor, and so the group had decided to leave that floor alone.  Now it seemed they had been wrong.  If the mess hall was on this level, chances were that the barracks were as well..  

Reno was glad the opportunity had arisen where he could come up against so many of the enemy, but he realized that he couldn't have been in a shittier position to do it in.  His back-up was waiting three stories up and he knew left to his own devices, he would do something horribly illogical like waltz into the barracks where there could be as many as twenty well trained men and woman, guns drawn and ready for some fun.

"Reeve?" Reno asked sweetly, "Don't suppose you could look up the floor plans for the first level and tell me if there are any really big rooms around that might serve as the barracks?"

If Reeve answered him, Reno couldn't hear. The sounds of heavy booted footfalls in the hall outside, accompanied by a loud retort at finding their downed comrade was the only warning Reno got before he had to take cover.  He flung himself down behind one of the solid metal tables just as the alerted guards came into the room guns blazing.  They'd seen him.  After the initial gun fire slackened, he shot a few answering shots over the top of the table (hearing at least one small cry of pain) then said;

"Sorry Reeve, I didn't quite catch that."

/"Down the hall on the right. Was that gunfire?"/

As if answering the question they couldn't hear, the return fire hit the table Reno was using as a shield. 

"Just a bit. Excuse me for a sec would you."

Providing some cover fire of his own, Reno managed to get a quick peep over the table top and spied the table the guards had taken cover behind. Two actually, back at the end of the room across the aisle from each other, about four rows up from where Reno was taking shelter.  He set his right hand  gun down within easy reach and took out his nightstick.  Metal tables might have provided good sturdy cover from bullets, but they also made brilliant electrical conductors.

The next time the guards stopped to reload, Reno took careful aim with his nightstick and set a bolt of electricity into the table across the aisle. He dropped his nightstick, picked up his gun and rolled out into the middle aisle stopping on his belly, below the sight of the other table.  Several cries of pain came from behind the table he had hit and a few guards stumbled out into the middle aisle. They went down three precise shots later, and he rolled back behind cover as the answering fire came from behind the second table.

Over the sound of gunfire Reno could hear one of the other guys call out; "Get some more of the boys down here. Tell 'em we've got a rat down here to exterminate!"

Reno allowed a small smile at this and graciously decided to let the messenger get out of the door without injury. 

He was now faced with two problems.  He had to keep the guards interested for whatever time it took the others to get into the other level, but he couldn't just stay here either. Eventually they would surround him and take him out.

            He needn't go down to the barracks.  

            This was going to be /fun/.

*

Cait peeked through the grate into the first room.  Internally ordering his eyes into 'night' mode, he saw that it was an ordinary looking office.  One big desk, three chairs, bookcases, and of course, a potted plant sitting innocently in the corner.  No one was in sight, but that didn't surprise him. If the office had been occupied he would have known instantly. "I think I found Ryder's office." Cait informed the others. "He's not there."

Finding nothing of interest, he moved on.

He passed a few storage rooms, but nothing he saw looked familiar.  A few were weapons supplies, some were a little less interesting. The most interesting was when he came upon the broom closet.  It was occupied.  For some reason he had half expected that, instantly being able to call up some information regarding good rooms for privacy that can be locked and have no security cameras.

_Damn Reno._

Fighting down the urge the yell out something embarrassing and startling the couple, Cait moved on to the next room.

"Well, well." He whispered, "This is more like it."

At least five guards had moved into the room and were standing around in a rather alert state.  

_Probably moved in here after the lights went to emergency._

Which meant that this room contained something worth guarding. The room was rather largish, but Cait found that the guards were blocking his view of just about everything as if they'd been strategically placed to annoy him.  Around them he saw boxes overflowing with untidy piles of papers, a few unarmed men that didn't look like guards and tables of computers. The unarmed men seemed to be hurrying about the room grabbing this and that seemingly at random and taking it over to dump in a few black bags.  Probably on the possibility that the power outage wasn't a mere blackout and something more serious.

/"Found something Cait?"/ He heard Elena ask.

"You could say that. I think I've found their stash of valuables. But you'll want to be quick, they look like they're getting ready to relocate."

In the background Cait heard what sounded like a door opening and closing before Elena responded.

/"The guards are gone. Where?"/

"Room at the end of the corridor, second from the left."

/"Okay sit tight Cait. Don't move till we get there."/

It was bad luck for Elena that her last order was about to be ignored.  Just as she finished her last sentence one of the guards had shifted positions allowing Cait to see the far wall directly across from where he was.  Up near one of the benches, next to a computer terminal sat a big bulbous white Mog.

Cait's eyes widened and his ears flattened back on his head.

"Don't move." Cait repeated through grit teeth. "Yeah right."

Swiveling around and rolling onto his back, Cait braced himself against the back of the shaft and threw his legs into the grate that covered the shaft opening. It gave more easily than expected, but by the amount of noise it had caused now assured him that he had the attention of the entire room.

The two closest men looked over to see to rather surprising sight.  They might have laughed at the sight of the cute little kitten with the red cape if it hadn't been for the feral look stretched across it's features.

            "Get the fuck away from my Mog you assholes."

*

            "Shit shit shit!" Elena repeatedly swore scrambling to get through the door.

            Rude didn't need to ask, he'd heard the conversation and was well aware of what Cait was planning to do. 

            The two of them burst through the door, guns (or at least one each) drawn and ready for any resistance.  They met little, whatever Reno had done downstairs had managed to drawn the bulk down into the lower levels once the messenger had arrived.  Any that were met were quickly dealt with.  

            They were nearing on the room, passing a darkened doorway when an arm shot out knocking Rude's gun out of his hand. Another blow came from the unseen attacker with enough force to stop Rude's trajectory and making him stumble backwards.

            Elena came to a halt a few paces down the hall in alarm. 

            Rude staggered back a bit, stopped, shook his head a little and waved Elena onwards with a silent gesture that seemed to say; 'Go on and get Cait. I'll deal with this.'

            Nodding once, Elena spun and resumed her course towards the room down the hall.  The sounds of battle had started coming from the room and were echoing down the hall.

            Rude's attacker came out from the doorway and into the light. He was unarmed, say for a small knife, the blade glinting in the subdued light of the hall.  Much the same way the man's eyes were as he looked upon his opponent. He looked ready for a fight and didn't seem to care in the slightest that Rude still had a gun on him, albeit in it's holster strapped to his left leg.  The man had good right not to seem afraid.  Though the sight of Rude made most men think twice about going anywhere near the him, this man made Rude look like a weed.  His exposed arm muscles rippled with every movement, his legs looked as sturdy and strong as tree trunks, the rest of his body, that looked ready to burst through the thin cotton shirt, looked no less intimidating.

            The side of Rude's face stung from the blow he had received, but he ignored it.  He also ignored his holstered gun.  He looked the guy over with a deadpan expression before reaching up to his face and readjusting his glasses that had been knocked slightly askew after he had been hit.

            The man kept grinning seemingly a little more into the fight now that it looked as though Rude was not going to bother with his gun. He raised his knife hand in front of him and made a beckoning gestured with his free hand to which Rude raised a single eyebrow.

            The man, taking this for a negative answer, took a step toward Rude, slashing out with his knife hand and following up with a punch from his free fist. Rude stepped casually back, avoiding both and threw a round punch in of his own when the opportunity presented itself.  The punch impacted solidly with the man's meaty jaw. The man stopped moving forward, a look of total surprise passing over his features, before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell to the floor with an extremely loud 'whomp'.

            Bending over, Rude retrieved his lost weapon and followed after Elena.

As it turned out, he needn't have bothered hurrying. Jogging into the room, he pulled up just short of running into Elena. She was standing stock still just inside the doorway staring around the room, mouth open.

He stepped past her to get a better look, curious as to why the fighting had suddenly stopped.  He found out why.  Five guards, and three others were sprawled out over various parts of the room.  Unconscious or groaning.  The air smelt like a freezing storm had blown in and set fire to a few things.  Indeed a few of the bodies here and there were still in fact smoking.  A few more had nasty gashes on their heads probably as a result from being hit with a blunt weapon.

In the center of the room lay one of the guards, unconscious or dead, laying on his stomach. In the center of his back was sitting a cute little black and white cat nuzzling his paw as if it was hurt.

As if aware of more people in the room, Cait looked up at them with a slightly pained expression on his face. 

"I hurt my paw." He told them in a small voice holding it out for them to see.

*

_Notes: mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha*sigh*aaaahhhhahahhahahahah_

_Ahahahahahahahahah*coughs**sighs again* Damn that was /fun/! Did everyone like it huh? Hehe I sure did.  And there is another full chapter of building chaos to come! Chapter 11 should be coming very very soon so look out for it.  I do suggest though that when it does come out re-read this chapter cause they follow directly on from each other and it might be better to have read the whole thing at once. All part of the experience I guess. _

_            Wow, do these guys kick ass or what?!_

_            AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Don't forget about the mailing list for all upcoming stuff and previews!_


	11. Chapter 11

****

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 11

****

/"We're in and the guards have been cleared out."/ Reno heard Rude say over the radio.

/"Good.  See if you can't get that stuff back to the truck.  You can probably use the elevator, security systems shouldn't pick it up with the power down. And obviously the elevator is running on emergency."/  Reeve responded. /"Reno how are you holding up?"/

"I can keep them here a while longer." He told them.  "But I think I'll have to move soon so hurry it up."

Reno huddled further down behind the table as another barrage off bullets hit the table he was behind.  His eyes scanning his end of the room looking for a viable escape option.  

"Reeve? Are there any ways out of the room I'm in apart from the main doors?"

Reeve took a moment in answering, probably first having to locate Reno's whereabouts from the tracking device in his suit then looking over the plans for the floor.

/"Through the kitchen there is a service door."/

Reno looked down to the far end of the room, away from the guards and spied several metal serving tables with glass shields.  

_The kitchen must be beyond those counters._

Taking another quick peek around the side of the table he saw where the enemy (now increased in size thanks to the messenger) was taking cover, then gauged his chances of being able to get to the kitchen without getting riddled with bullets. 

"Fuck."

His chances weren't good.

Firing a few bullets haphazardly over the top of the table, Reno edged back, scrambled out into the side aisle and threw himself behind the next table just before more fire erupted in his direction.

It was close, but he might be able to keep edging back till he was at the end of the row and therefore closer to the kitchen. He knew if he fumbled he was dead, but Reno chose to be optimistic.

"These guys can't shoot for shit anyway."

It took him the better part of a quarter of an hour to get all the way down to the end of the room.  But he finally made it.  He was actually surprised that the guards hadn't sent anyone through the kitchen themselves.  It would have been an excellent way to trap the lone Turk in the room.  Still they hadn't shown any great intelligence so far and Reno saw no reason for them to start now.

Reno took the opportunity to reload both guns and again checked the distance to the kitchen. It was still further than he had hoped.

He waited for the next break in the fire, took a deep breath, stood up and stepped into the aisle, weapons blazing.  When he was sure all his attackers were huddled down in hiding, he ceased firing, turned and made a sprint for the serving tables.  While Reno prided himself on his speed and agility, he hadn't quite made the distance when he heard a single gun's answering fire.  The bullets missed him fractionally, hitting the glass on the counters. Not bothering to stop, Reno threw himself over the counter that had been hit, actually thankful that the glass shield had been decimated, and hit the ground on the other side at a roll. He used the speed of the roll to bring him back onto his feet, guns up and firing back in kind.  Whoever had fired still had their head up and was the only unfortunate soul to get hit before Reno ducked back down behind the counter to reload again.

Guns fully loaded, he braced himself for another hail of bullets.  They didn't come. For a whole 20 seconds he crouched behind the bench, tensed, ready to move but still nothing happened.  Vaguely he wondered if they'd finally caught onto his plan and were circling around.

"Cait where are you?" Reno whispered.

/"We're in the elevator taking everything down to street level."/

"Where exactly?"

/"Just passing the second level. Need some help?"/

"Stay there. Can you find me on your sensors?"

/"I have a tracking system for all the suits. I'm close enough to sense the room around you too. Are you sure you don't need any help? There are an awful lot of guards around your position."/

"I'm about a hundred foot from a small service door. Anyone behind it?"

/"Several."/

"Fabulous."

Reno spied the door, aimed one of his guns at eye level and fired three shots through the door.

/"More like a few now."/ Cait amended.

"Stay with the others." Reno told him sternly.

He wasn't necessarily worried for Cait, He was more likely to be able to get out of here on his own, it was as simple as that.  Besides they would need as many people as they could getting out of the lobby.

*

"How many?" Rude asked Cait as they neared the ground floor in the elevator.

Cait concentrated for a moment, the expression on his face making him look like he was sucking on a lemon.

"Five." He answered. "Two by the desk along the western wall, two by the doors opposite the elevator. One in the men's room that leads off behind the desk taking a wiz. The last guy has had a few drinks before coming on duty."

Elena screwed up her face, "How can you tell?"

"It sounds like Lucrecia's Falls in there. I wouldn't worry too much about him, he'll be in there for a while methinks."

Elena rolled her eyes and took out her weapon.  "I should've known better than to ask."

Rude did likewise, though without the disgusted look on his face. "Cait, fry the two by the door. Elena, you and I will take the two behind the desk, then get the two by the door as the spell wears off."

Both nodded to show they understood and readied themselves in front of the door.  

Cait began to move then stopped. "Something's wrong. The guards in the lobby are moving to take cover. I don't…"

Cait was cut off as the elevator doors opened with a soft 'ping'.  Rude understood the warning and managed to scramble over to the side of the elevator before the doors fully opened, dragging Cait along with him. He saw Elena do the same a split second after him.  It was the split second that hurt her though.  As soon as the doors were open, the bullet's started coming.  Elena's cry of pain alerted him that she had been hit. When his back hit the side wall of the elevator, he fired blindly in return then raised his head to look at Elena. She was crouched up against the opposite wall, her left hand clamped tightly over her right shoulder.  The blood was already beginning to seep over her fingers. She did manage to raise her head in his direction though and offer a nod to indicate that it was nothing fatal just yet.

The bullets hit the metal walls of the elevator with heavy 'pings' and seemed never to cease to allow Rude to return fire.  He looked down to Cait who was crouched beside him, but Cait wasn't paying attention to the fight, he was watching Elena, an odd look on his face.

"Cait?"

Cait seemed to shake his daze off and look up at Rude.  

"How 'bout a little fireworks diversion?"

After a moment more Cait seemed to understand and slid his staff off his back. A few moments of concentration later and Rude saw the green glare as well as the sounds of shattering ice crystals from outside the elevator.  

Rude risked a peek out into the lobby and saw that all of the guards were on the ground with the exception of one who was kind enough to try and take Rude's head off as he poked in his line of sight.  He missed Rude's head as he ducked back into the elevator.

"Don't suppose you could do that again could you?" He asked Cait.

Sadly Cait shook his head. "I'm too drained, I can't concentrate."

Rude was about to ask Cait to hand over a piece of materia when he was interrupted by the sound of a single shot from a handgun that sounded from in the lobby.  What made Rude pause wasn't the fact that thus far, he hadn't seen any of the guards use simple handguns.  It was more like the shot wasn't fired in their direction.

Again, but far more cautious this time, Rude poked his head out from the edge of the door to look towards the desk where the last man had been standing. Instead of the blond head of the guard, Rude saw the familiar  dark brown hair of his friend, standing over the body of the last standing man.

Rude was so relieved he almost smiled.  

Almost.

Rude left the sanctuary of the elevator and walked toward his friend, casually putting bullets into the groaning men recovering from the ice spell. Reeve looked up at him, his brow creased in worry. In his hand he held the simple handgun Reno had left for him.

Rude could imagine what had happened.  After hearing Elena's cry, seeing the readouts from Cait as well as Elena's suit, he had picked up the gun and run to the rescue.  Something that Rude was extremely thankful for.

"She's in the elevator. She's okay for now."

Reeve jogged past Rude and into the open elevator, appearing a moment later, practically carrying Elena toward the front desk.

"I can walk!" Elena protested.

Reeve ignored her and set her down into a chair by the desk and began to look over her wound. "Good. Can you shut up and let me help as well?"

Elena gave him a wry smile and nodded.

"Multi-talented girl." Reeve commended.

Rude left them and went back to the elevator to begin unloading their recovered items.  Most seemed intact having been pushed up against one of the side walls for protection. Cait was standing in front of his Mog, looking the robot over carefully.  He saw Rude and stopped what he was doing.

"Is Elena okay?"

"She'll be fine."

"I've never seen any of you guys bleed like that." Cait admitted. "I saw Reeve come home one day with a nasty gash on his hand from work. It gave me a squirmy feeling.  I keep forgetting that you guys aren't like me, that you are like everyone else. To mortal for my tastes."

"Mine too." Rude answered as he began to wheel the trolley with their stuff out of the elevator.

Cait shook his stiff paw a few times then climbed up onto his Mog. Flicking the switch just behind the Mog's right ear, the Mog straightened from its slumped position, but didn't move from there.

"C'mon." Cait urged. "Let's get to the van so we're ready when Reno gets back."

Still the Mog refused to move. Cait rapped it on the head a few times. "Move!"

With a seemingly tremendous amount of effort the Mog began to move out of the elevator.

"I think the power is almost drained." Cait told Reeve as he passed. "I don't think he'll make the jump into the van."

"Get Rude to lift him in." Reeve told him.

Cait disappeared out of the door after Rude.

"Odd." Reeve muttered.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Power cells should be full.  They must have turned it on.  Hope they didn't mess with it."

Elena had ceased to listen though, instead she seemed to be listening to her headset, an anxious look forming on her face.

"Something wrong?" Reeve asked.

"Reno said that it looks as though he may need some help after all." Elena frowned.  "Reno never asks for help unless he's really desperate."

The main doors burst open, admitting Rude in from the main street.  He looked to be a major rush to get to the elevator. Obviously he had heard the message as well.

"Rude! Wait!" Reeve called.

Rude didn't stop but he did slow down. 

"We need you down here. We need to get all the stuff loaded in case we need to make a quick escape when Reno comes out.  I can't load all that stuff."

Rude did stop at that, but he looked as though he would begin going again at any moment.

"He needs help." Elena told Reeve. "We could lift the Mog and all the stuff together."

"Not with your shoulder shot up." Reeve argued before lapsing into deep thought for a moment.

"Right." He said straightening up and picking up the handgun from the desk where he had put it down. "I'll go."

"What?" Echoed Elena and Rude.

"I'm the only one not needed down here anymore and unhurt. All I'll have to do is take the heat off Reno for a moment right? My shooting isn't too bad. I've been running through the snow to keep fit for work, my endurance levels should be as good as any of you guys."

Elena had to give him credit on that point. 

"You're sure?" Rude asked.

Reeve nodded.

Rude handed his headset to Reeve along with one of his own guns and a few clips.

"Reeve no." Elena protested. "You're not trained for this."

Reeve stuffed the extra clips into the pockets of his jeans and casually scratched his right shoulder through his black tee. 

Elena gave him a sour look letting him know she knew what he meant by that.

_'Training didn't help you.'_

"Quickly." Rude urged.

Again Reeve nodded and entered the elevator.  He didn't stop for a chance to see the pleading look he knew Elena would give him. Depressing the button for the first floor, the elevator doors bumped shut in front of him.  It wasn't until then did he lean back against the wall of the elevator, realizing fully what he was about to do.

"Shit."

*

"It's getting kind of cramped in here you guys." Reno said in a singsong voice before taking a few blind shots over the counter.

/"Give me a moment would you."/

Hearing that voice almost caused Reno to laugh. "Reeve man is that you?"

/"Unfortunately."/

"I'm flattered that you're coming to my rescue, but where the fuck are the trained professionals?"

/"Elena's been shot. We needed Rude to load the van. Sorry."/

Reno took a deep breath and sighed. "No worries. I have total confidence in you. Just hang back till I come up with a plan okay."

/"Right. Okay."/

He had hoped Reeve wouldn't sound so relieved when he said that. 

At present he figured he had maybe one spare cartridge and less than four rounds left in both guns combined. Considering his position was about to be overrun from two sides, he decided that was a very bad position to be in.  He had hoped that maybe Rude or Cait or both would have come up, draw the concentration of guards away from one side.  But this, of course, hadn't happened.  While he did have faith in Reeve's want to help, he knew that the man could only do so much without running great risk of getting a bullet in his brain for his troubles.

The guards at the service door started opening the door again and Reno responded the same as always and emptied both guns into the door.  The door stopped moving again.  

Reno holstered his right hand gun and reloaded the other.

Whatever he was going to do, he was going to have to do it fast.  

"I must say I'm very impressed."

Reno stilled his movements and listened to the new voice filtering in from the mess hall.  A woman's voice, strong and almost amused sounding.  He didn't dare raise his head to look at the person that was addressing him.  The opportunity did allow him to maybe stall for a little while though, so he answered back;

"Thanks. I'm quite happy to say that the feeling isn't mutual."

He heard the unknown woman laugh.

"I can see why you may have cause for complain. Still," she sounded like she was moving closer. Reno strained to hear and gauge her position enough to fire a shot, "I'm rather glad to have had this chance to talk to you Reno."

/That/ made Reno open his eyes a little wider.  He wasn't aware that anybody had managed to get a good look at him yet, let alone identify him by name.

"Aw, no fair. You know my name, but I have yet to know yours."

"For that I must apologize." Definitely closer now. "I am Destiny."

Despite dire circumstances Reno actually cracked up. "Cute."

"For someone who leads a band called the 'Turks' you sure do find my name amusing."

_Gotcha!_

Three bullets went over the bench towards where he knew Destiny must have been standing.  Too far in the center for cover, and too close for her to move out of the way. He was smiling with his good work.

Till of course she kept talking, obviously unhurt.

"Close. But you'll have to do better than that."

From his position wedged up against the bench, Reno was beginning to cramp up.  He realized how tensed he'd been holding his body, his joints and muscles now screamed for some movement. He moved his head fractionally to the side and heard a rather disturbing crack.

"Why don't you call your dogs off on that side and we'll do this out where we can both see each other then?" Reno joked.

For a while Reno heard nothing but whispered voices, then the sound of heavy booted feet moving away.

"Alright." Destiny answered, "You're on."

Reno screwed up his face and looked toward the top of the bench with a bemused expression. "What?"

"The guards have better things to do. After all you /are/ a Turk. I find it hard to believe that you are here all on your own. I sent them off to find your friends. I think I can handle you on my own." She said smugly.

Reno tried to fight down the silly grin on his face.  He couldn't have planned this any better.

"Reeve," He whispered so Destiny couldn't hear. "Do you have any materia on you?"

/"Just what Rude had attached to his gun."/

"Sleep materia." Reno clarified.  "Good, use it on the guards by the service door to the kitchen. But keep your eyes open, some guards have been sent out to find you and any others okay."

/"Got it. Give me ten or so minutes."/

Checking his gun was in readiness he called out, "And how do I know that the moment I stick my head over the bench top I wont get it blown off?"

"Don't suppose you'd take my word?"

"Don't suppose you'd take mine?"

A thoughtful pause. "I see your point. How about my gun then?"

The gun flew over Reno's head where it slid to a stop about five feet away from him on the kitchen floor.  This was quickly followed by a second.

Figuring that this was his only chance out of here, Reno stood and turned toward the voice of the woman, gun at the ready.  If not for his training he might have dropped his gun with his first glimpse of her.

Clad in fitted black pants and a form fitting dark silk shirt, the clothing did nothing to hide her figure and everything to enhance it. Longish black hair framed a perfect heart-shaped face set with an expression of anticipation. Deep blue eyes gleamed with the barest hints of amusement and smug knowing. A full-lipped mouth twisted into an almost mocking smile. 

Reno swallowed but managed to keep his gun aimed at the woman's heart. "Destiny indeed."

Destiny turned that mixed look she was giving him into a full-blown pout. "I thought we were going to put away all the silly guns and kill each other in a less civilized way."

"You want /me/ to fight /you/?"

"That was the plan.  Pass the time while my guards round up your friends."

Reno lowered his gun and holstered it.  He could see that she carried no weapon in her hand and it would be very difficult to conceal a gun in her clothing.

He easily vaulted the bench, despite his stiff muscles and moved to stand a little under six feet away from the stunning woman.

            "I never have been able to refuse the opportunity to be a woman's play thing.  Please tell me we're going to wrestle."

            "Nice suit." Destiny commented instead. "Almost leaves nothing to the imagination."

            With no extra warning, Destiny rushed him obviously hoping to swing out at him. She missed only by the barest inch as Reno spun out of the way and then turned back only just in time to grab her foot before it impacted with his groin.

            "Ohhh nasty." He commented twisting her ankle enough to send her crashing into the metal table beside them.

            She recovered quickly enough and went back to stalking him. "I take it you aren't one of those guys who are afraid to hit a woman."

            "Not when they are intent on hitting me." Reno answered succinctly.

            This time they both seemed to decide to attack at the same time. Though Reno was a tad quicker than her, she managed to pull her move up short, knock his kick, intended for her stomach, to the side with her own foot, then hop forward a little to deliver her own into his ribs with the same move.  The kick had its intended effect and sent Reno back into the table behind him, wheezing for breath. No doubt, if it hadn't been for the suit's armor she would have cracked a rib or two.  She seemed stronger than he would have imagined.

            His butt hit the metal bench and his head, the table. Destiny followed his fall and threw a heavy punch that would have broke his jaw had he not been able to move his head away in time. He stumbled back to his feet, breathing hard and gave her a penetrating look.

            "Who exactly /are/ you?"

            "Destiny Ryder." She answered closing on him once again, seeing his difficulty, and the weakness it presented. "You may have heard of my father, though you'll know nothing about me.  I, though, have been studying your group Reno. And I'm most anxious to not see my inheritance spoilt over a group of pretenders who are trying to win their fallen reputation back. You guys just can't understand that you are nothing without Shinra. You should leave mercenary work to the professionals."

            It was a much more venomous statement than anything she had said so far.  Apparently she was no longer amused with him and would sooner finish him off and go find something else to stalk.

            "What happened to the witty banter?" Reno asked breathing a little more deeply.

            "I won't deny that I had been looking forward to this since hearing your name. But like you, I'm not impressed."

            She lashed out high with her foot, so fast that Reno couldn't dodge it and ended up deflecting it with his shoulder.  It still hurt a lot. 

            /"Guards are out."/ At that moment Reeve's voice was like music to his ears.  Playtime was now officially over, he'd heard everything he was likely to hear.

            He stopped backing away and fighting for breath.  His body tensed, his eyes became more alert.  But Destiny saw all this too late.  She hadn't seen through his faking, a ploy to get her overconfident and sloppy. It had worked completely. Her second kick was deflected easily. Reno knocked her foot away, pivoted and swung his fist around to impact with her jaw.  The blow almost jarred his fingers and sent the woman down to the ground where she lay unconscious.

            "Well I wasn't impressed either as you know. And it was Shinra that were nothing without /us/. Never forget that."

            She, of course, didn't answer.

            Absently rubbing his sore side, Reno took one last long look at the skilled and beautiful fighter before heading back toward the kitchen. When the sound of the door banging shut sounded, Destiny smiled and rolled over onto her back. 

            "I lied." She told the ceiling. "Very impressive."

            Unclipping the radio from her belt and holding it up to her mouth she said; "Intruders on the 1st Floor outside the kitchen."

*

            Reno flung himself out of the door, and almost straight into Reeve. He caught both his arms to keep the Turk from crashing into him with an alarmed look.

            "Somebody chasing you?"

            "No.  You have no idea how good it is to see you man.  Ammo was running low for a while. Though fighting Destiny was fun, I'd rather get out of here right now. My ribs are killing me."

            "Fighting destiny?"  Reeve shook his head. "No, nevermind. I'll ask later."

            "Good idea, now…"

            Reno stopped talking and cocked his head to the side, listening.  He stood like that for a while without moving or speaking.  Reeve tried to listen as well, but he could hear nothing.

            "Reno, what…."

            Reno's faced grew a little startled. "Fuck."

            Keeping a hold of one of Reeve's arms, he dragged the other man off to the side and around the next corner before Reeve could finish his question.  He didn't need to though, as soon as they were behind the corner, he heard the shouted voices of the guards and their heavy rushed footfalls.

            Reno pulled his gun out of its holster and fired a few shots around the corner before quickly ducking back. Frenzied shouts from the guards followed as they rushed for the cover of doorways.

            Reeve gingerly took his own gun out of the back of his waistband and backed himself up against the wall next to Reno.

            "Got any clips?" Reno asked hopefully. "Rude had the pack with all our stuff in it."

            Reeve took all that Rude had given him out of his pockets and showed them to Reno. Three spare clips between two people.

            Reno didn't seem all too worried though.

            "Good man. Here swap with me for a second."

            Reno stepped away the corner and allowed Reeve to slide up closer where he could cover their position.

            "Don't stick your head out or anything. If you hear anything just fire a few blind shots at them to make them stick their heads back in." Reno told Reeve to answer the other man's anxious look. "I have to think for a second."

            Reno holstered one gun and took out the other in order to reload the empty weapon.  Once done he stuffed one more spare cartridge down the top of his boot and told Reeve to keep the other for himself.  Then he rested his head against the wall next to Reeve apparently in deep thought.

            "From what I remember of the floor plans, that corridor we were in is the only one that leads to the elevator bank.  And unfortunately we are on the wrong side of ten trigger happy guards to make much use of them."  Reno said apparently thinking out loud.

            Reeve fired a few shots blindly around the corner and looked back toward Reno.

            "What about the stairs?"

            "The internal stairwell will be blocked from here as well. The external stairs, we are able to get to.  I think they're in the next corridor. But there's a problem with the stairs."

            "Problem?"

            "They're there merely for emergency use, fire escapes for one thing and fitted with alarms should one on any level be opened.  The moment we open that door, the guards will know exactly where we are going and odds are, reach our destination before us."

            "The lobby." Reeve agreed.  "What if we don't go to the lobby?"

            Reno turned his thoughtful gaze upon Reeve. "What do you mean?"

            "What about the basement? You and Rude got in easy enough."

            "No stairs to the basement. External stairs remember." Reno's face brightened. In Reeve's perspective it was almost as if a light bulb had gone off above the Turk's head. "But you just gave me a fabulous idea. How much do you weigh?"

            "Weigh?" Reeve asked nervously.

            Reno looked him over for a second before nodding again thoughtfully.  "Not much more than me I'd wager. One at a time and we should make it over. C'mon."

            Reno kept his left handed gun in hand and started jogging away from Reeve, down the corridor.

            For a few confusing seconds Reeve just stood there before taking off after the Turk.  Reno was hard to catch, nearly running full tilt. But Reeve managed to draw up a few paces behind him.

            "Make it where?" Reeve asked.

            "The way Elena came over." Reno explained.

            Reeve's mouth fell open and he almost stopped out of shock. "You have to be joking!"

            Reno slowed a little so Reeve could catch up and smirked at him. "Don't have a problem with heights do you Reeve?"

            "Only when I'm forced to deal with them." Reeve shot back.

            Reno's grin grew. "Just don't look down and think of something else."

            Reeve nodded and said nothing more.  But he didn't think it was going to be as easy as all that.

*

            Cait sat in Reeve's chair in the van, a headset fitted (as best as it could be) to his head, eyes on the various monitors in front of him and a very confused expression on his face. He was trying to keep focused on all that was in front of him but it was still a lot for him to concentrate on at one time.

            Elena was sitting off to the side nursing her wound, and Rude was still busy loading up the van.  Elena called for an update, temporarily looking up from her shoulder.

            "Um," Cait fumbled, "They're on the first floor heading toward the south side of the building."

            "Good, they're okay and together." Then; "Where could they be going?"

            "Dunno." Cait answered reluctantly. "All I heard was something about not wanting to fight destiny and how much it was hurting Reno. Oh and a few things Reeve said he didn't want to deal with."

            Cait noted the startled look on Elena's face and played over what he may've just said that could have caused her alarm.

            Once done Cait said "Oh." And promptly cracked up. 

            "Sorry." He apologized in between giggles. "Out of context I assure you. Lucky I didn't mention how fast Reno's heart rate is going as well."

            "What?!"

            This only cause to set Cait off again, he almost missed hearing Reno trying to contact him.

            Cait forced himself to settle down and concentrate on his task again. "Sorry what?"

            /"I said; Once the van is packed up and ready to roll, get over to the entrance of the building next door and guard it.  We're coming over from the roof, wait for us there."/

            "Okay." Cait responded. "See you there." With a backwards glance he added; "Elena should be very pleased to see you both in particular."

***

            They both managed to scramble up onto the roof without hearing or seeing any further hints of guards and the like. In fact the only guards they found at all were the four spread out over the roof top towards the eastern side.  Reeve stopped and looked over the bodies of the dead guards with a slightly sick feeling.

            "Little different than just hearing about it isn't it?" Reno asked stopping beside him.

            Reeve shook his head and tore his eyes away from the bodies. "It's not that exactly." Reeve answered truthfully. "It's more the knowledge of how they came to be here."

            Somehow knowing that Elena had done all this had a rather unsettling effect on Reeve.  It wasn't the same with Reno and Rude, mostly because that for all the time he had known the pair they had been Turks.  He had never deluded himself when it came to what the Turks actually did.  But he always found it difficult to understand that Elena was just like the others.  A trained killer, kidnapper ect.  With Rude and Reno it was just the way things were.  To imagine Elena as being the same just seemed so….unnatural. 

            "She's still El Reeve." Reno told him.  "C'mon you can dwell on your girlfriends profession later. Right now we should really haul ass."

            Keeping his eyes away from the bodies, Reeve followed Reno around the other side of the building to where the wire was still attached. He joined Reno at the raised edge to the building and looked over the edge to their escape route.  If the bodies had loosed his resolve any, the sight of the thin metal wire made him completely unable to close his mouth.

            Reno looked at Reeve's expression, his mouth twisting back up into his previous smirk. "Piece of cake."

            "Please gods Reno, tell me you are shitting me about climbing across there." Reeve ground out.

            Reno slung a leg over the side and sat on the barrier which came up about waist height.. He reached down and played with something still dangling to the wire.  Straightening back up he reached around his waist and unclipped his belt.

            "Here put this on."

            "Why?" 

            Reno gave Reeve a patient expression and pointed to a clasp on the front of the belt. "Inbuilt harness remember? The gun holsters are clipped to your legs, the belt around your waist. Elena left her safety line on the wire.  It'll hold you if you fall."

            Reeve should have known that. He'd built the suits after all.  But it was apparent to both men, that Reeve probably wasn't in best form, intimidated with the task ahead of him.

            "What about you?"

            Reno shrugged and began unclipping the snaps that held his holsters to his legs. "I've trained without safety harnesses before. And I've had to make do in real situations before.  This is nothing new to me, I probably wouldn't use the harness anyway." Reno smiled. "Gets in the way."

            An obvious lie, but Reeve saw the wisdom in it. He was the inexperienced one. If someone was going to fall, it would be him.

            Reeve nodded and took the belt quickly fitting it to himself.  The straps were adjusted for Reno though and took a bit of fiddling to get all the clips done up and even then, it was a tight fit.

            When it was on, Reno eyed the straps critically.  "I didn't think you were much bigger than me." Reno said thoughtfully. "It's probably the jeans.  It's not cutting off circulation is it? Wouldn't want the use of your legs to leave you halfway over."

            "A little tight. But not too bad."

            Reno nodded, apparently satisfied. "Okay come over the barrier and lower yourself down so I can secure you to the line."

            Reeve looked a little apprehensive, but he obeyed and moved forward, slowly. 

            "Just remember," Reno began brightly.

            "If you tell me not to look down I swear I'll shoot you Reno." Reeve interrupted swinging himself over the barrier and crouching on the very side of the small over hang on the other side.

            Reno smothered a chuckle and waved him off, "Forget I mentioned it."

            He crouched down beside Reeve and reached down past him to grab the safety line. "Excuse me." Reno said reaching down in between them to snag the line then clipping the line to Reeve's belt

            "Now just lower yourself onto the line, keep your hands on the line to pull yourself across and sling your legs up as well so you're not dragging all your own weight with you arms. Keep your eyes on the line where your hands are going and don't smack your head against the building on the other side."

            "Good advice." Reeve returned dryly.

            Reno's smirk turned a little warmer and he gave Reeve a comforting pat on the back. "You'll be fine. You know already you've impressed me immensely. I mean how many other Shinra execs are there that would still be alive right now. You've evaded guards and constantly kept up with me. You're a fair shot with a gun and you're about to cross a twenty foot gap on a thin line three and a bit stories up without clinging to the side of the building and screaming like a school girl."

            Reeve raised one eyebrow at Reno and began lowering himself down onto the line. "No need to kiss my ass Reno, I'm going."

            Gripping the line tightly in both hands, Reeve took a deep breath and swung himself out, away from the side.  Immediately he felt his entire weight, the wire biting painfully into his bare hands.

            "Good. Now swing your legs up." Reno instructed.

            Despite the pain in his hands he managed to pull his body up a few inches, enough to allow him to hook a leg over the line. He suspected that it was fear that made him ignore any pain and focus on staying on the line.  Whatever it was, it allowed him to concentrate enough to follow Reno's instructions easy enough and disallow himself to look down.  It was a simple task to hook his other leg over the line and immediately he felt the pressure ease from his hands. It seemed that his legs were now supporting the bulk of his weight.  

            "Comfortable?" Reno asked.

            He was now facing Reno's direction and was able to offer a tense smile and nod in response to the question.

            "Okay, use your hands to pull yourself over. I'll wait here till you're over, I don't want to put too much weight on the line."

            Another nod and Reeve began to pull himself away from the building. He concentrated on nothing but the motion of putting one hand over the other.  Movement was more nerve-wracking that hanging in one spot though. He had imagined that actually moving would keep his mind off the danger, but he had been wrong. Even worse was the fact that he was sweating rather uncomfortably despite the thin cotton shirt he wore.  He was moving slow and had only made it a few feet before his left hand slipped on the line and he lost his grip. Panicking he caught hold of the line with his other hand in time to save himself from relying on his legs to keep him in place. He clutched the line with both hands tightly for a second, motionless, eyes closed.

            Reno was crouched exactly where Reeve had left him an anxious look on his face. 

            "Reeve!"

            Slowly Reeve opened his eyes and focused on the Turk.

            Reno held pointed two spread fingers at each of his eyes. "Keep your eyes on me as you go across. Focus on me. I'll give you a signal when you're about to get to the other side okay."

            Reeve nodded locking his eyes onto his friends. One hand at a time, he let go of the wire and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans then continued his journey.  He found that having something else to focus on kept his mind from wandering and therefore kept him a little calmer. He was surprised when Reno smiled and motioned to something to something over Reeve's shoulder. Finally taking his eyes off Reno he took a quick look over his shoulder to see that he was almost close enough to reach out and touch the other building. 

            He went to give a triumphant smile in his friend's direction but Reno was no longer looking at him.  Reno was slightly turned away looking at something over the raised section of the roof. Reeve didn't have to think long before he realized just what it was that must have caught the Turk's attention. 

Reeve turned quickly back to his task and completed the small way to the side of the building. Letting his legs drop from the wire, Reeve managed to haul himself over the side of the flat edge of the roof and unattached the safety line.  

Now that he was on a higher level, he could see a little more clearly what was happening on the other roof and wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see at least a dozen or more guards coming from the center of the roof towards where Reno was crouched by the side of the building. Amongst the guards was a man that Reeve suspected wasn't a guard. He was slightly older and wore an expensive satin robe. Obviously the disturbance had bothered the man's sleep.  Reeve assumed that the man was Ryder. And he was exactly how Reeve had imagined him. Neat gray hair, expensive clothing, slightly wrinkled but in good shape for a man of middle years.  And a pair of the most unfeeling, cold eyes that reminded Reeve a little uncomfortably of his previous boss. He was striding straight toward Reno's slightly covered position with little concern for himself or those who followed loyally behind him.

Reeve saw Reno's hands go toward where his holsters should have been. Realizing his mistake he saw rather than heard Reno mutter and oath before making a brave dive for the line below him. Reno caught the line easily and fluidly swung both legs up onto the line. His legs hadn't even touched the line before the Turk was scrambling across the line with the ease of someone who had done this type of thing for years and the speed of someone who knew they had more than twelve heavily armed men only too willing to use him as target practice the moment they got within range. Almost immediately Reeve saw Reno's desperate situation. Out on that line he was going to be an easy target. While his suit helped him a little with camouflage in the darkness, there were enough lights around to show him. Needless to say that Reno's hair stood out enough on it's own even if the lights were dimmer. He also was unarmed save for his nightstick and Reeve doubted that Reno would be stupid enough to use it while holding onto a metal wire. If his shot went awry he could end up electrocute himself far too easily. Reno's guns were in fact now with Reeve along with Reno's belt.

On that thought, Reeve reached down and un-holstered the right side gun and checked that the motion sensor was off.  Though the motion sensor would help targeting the guards, Reno was closer to him and he ran a higher risk of hitting his friend before any of the 'bad' guys. He was a fair shot for a beginner, but the distance was far. While he could probably scare them off sticking their heads over the side to take a shot at Reno, the likelihood of hitting them was low.  He'd probably just give them another target to shoot at.

He calculated the distance that Reno had still to come as opposed to when the guards would reach the side. Reeve figured that Reno might only be two thirds of the way across before he became a hittable target.

Apprehensive, Reeve cast his eyes around the roof around him hoping to see something that might help.  He didn't know what he might hope to find.  A Summon material perhaps, or maybe a gunman competent enough to hit the men on the other side of the roof. A grenade would have been handy. All he did see was an old decaying coil of rope, a rusting metal pole over by the side of the roof that the wire was attached to, a splintered deck chair and an old jacket layered with a decades worth of grime and dirt. Unless the guards would be scared of flying bits of wood, Reeve decided that most of it was unusable.  He couldn't even see anything he might use as shelter should he need to take cover from the hail of bullets he was sure to expect should he open fire on them.

It turned out that Reeve was correct in his estimation. The guards reached the side before Reno made it across. Ryder pointed down at the fleeing Turk and shouted something at the guard beside him who ran off back over the roof. The others leveled their guns at their target and prepared to fire.  Reeve managed to beat them to it. While he didn't think he managed to hit a single one of them, it did make them take their eyes off Reno for a second and bring their guns up to face the new threat. Realizing what was going to happen Reeve dropped flat on the roof just as the bullets whizzed by overhead. Terrified, anxious and (surprisingly) utterly pissed off, he waited for the eventual lull in the fire before scrambling to his knees and getting a few more shots off.  The gun clicked and Reeve scrambled backwards a bit before flattening himself once more. So far the guards seemed to be missing him which surprised him. It occurred to him then that the building he was on shed no light. It was abandoned. The only light the guards were seeing him by was the light from the streets below and the emergency lighting on their own building. He mustn't have made such an easy target himself. 

Hearing raised voices, Reeve risked lifting his head up enough to see the roof of the other building. The guard that had run off earlier was back from wherever Ryder had sent him.  The guard handed Ryder what looked to be small bolt cutters.

Reeve let out a puff of breath in surprise. Apparently Ryder didn't intend to shoot Reno off the wire. He intended to cut the wire and let the Turk fall to his death.

"Sadistic much?" Reeve asked himself in disbelief. 

He knew that Ryder hated the Turks with a passion, but this was a bit too much. 

Another lull came but this time Reeve didn't fire back. He did throw the spent gun aside and take out the left side one. But he kept it in his right hand, by his side. 

"Reno! Where are you?"

A slight grunt then, "About three quarters across. Thanks for distracting them by the way."

"They're not going to shoot you. Ryder's planning on cutting the line."

"Fuck. If he does that the other end will snap when my weight jerks down on it. It wasn't meant to take my weight at all. Jeez can't he just shoot me?" Reno whined.

Reeve could see Reno from where he was but he could imagine that Reno was still a ways off the edge. "Could I secure it on this end?"

"Not with me on the line, it's pulled too taut you'll only cut up your hands trying. You might be able to anchor it on something though."

"Assuming I can get up and walk around without getting my head blown off."

"Keep your head low and crawl."

Reno raised his head and looked back down the line to where Ryder was just beginning to climb over the raised edge to get closer to the wire. Only one other guard followed, probably to protect his boss from fire from Reeve. It didn't surprise Reno in the slightest that Ryder wanted to cut the line personally. Killing a Turk would be a big boon for the man not only professionally, but personally as well. And Reno never for one second deluded himself that Ryder wasn't aware of which Turk he had trapped.

Few options were open to him. He could ask Reeve to cover him. But Ryder wouldn't have climbed into the open unless he knew that whoever was on the other roof had a very unlikely chance of hitting him. After all Reeve hadn't managed to hit any of the guards on the roof and, apart from the distance, they were pretty open targets. 

The only other option was for Reno to do something about it himself. There was no way he would reach the other side in time, that was a fact. Instead he stopped climbing across and started to go back. He made it only about five feet before he felt the first twinges on the line that told him they were putting more pressure onto it.

"Any last words Reno?" He heard Ryder call out to him.

Reno lifted his head enough to see his antagonist clearly and offered a lop-sided smile. "Yeah do I have your permission to court your daughter?"

Ryder snarled something back at him that sounded very unkind before turning his attention back to his task.

This was when Reno let go of the line.

Dangling by his legs he reached up and pulled a knife from his boot. Then he began to swing. Using his own momentum he swung himself up till he was able to see Ryder directly across from him. At this point he let fly with the knife before he swung back down again. Unfortunately he wasn't able to see who or what he might have hit. He did hear a painful grunt that told him he'd hit someone at least. He managed to grab a hold of the line and jerk his head up in time to see his handiwork. The handle of the knife was the only thing visible, the blade buried within the man's throat. He had hit the guard standing next to Ryder. The guard toppled off his perch on the side of the roof and fell toward the ground below before the assembled group on the roof heard an unpleasant wet smack on the pavement below.

Ryder, now over his initial shock shrugged and went back to his interrupted work. 

"Fuck!" Reno swore.

Out of options and time. Reno began a last chance scramble towards the other side. But it was too late. He heard a dull click then the line went slack. A belated gunshot sounded overhead but Reno was too involved in what was happening to him to really take much notice. Squeezing his eyes shut he held tightly to the line. Then he felt the oddest sensation of falling…

***

"Any last words Reno?" Reeve heard Ryder call out. 

Somewhere below he heard Reno's undoubtedly witty reply, be he wasn't really paying attention. He holstered his weapon and got to his feet. Keeping low he grabbed up the old coil of rope and the dirty cloth and went over to the pole that the wire was secured to. 

His plan was simple; anchor the line in case it snapped with the rope secured to the safety line. The safety line itself that Reeve had used on his way over held onto the wire by two small wheels in a small metal housing that allowed the line to drag easily after the person using it. It was designed to be able to support more weight than the actual wire they were using. But anything thicker that the wire and the wheels would get caught and would not move, such as the thicker braces on either end of the line where it was secured. Reeve knew that if the wire snapped on the wrong side of the braces, his plan wasn't going to do much good. But as Reno had pointed out, if he tried to grab the line itself he would only end up cutting his hands up and he would probably loose his grip anyway.

He probably only had five foot of rope to play with but he didn't need much, he just hoped that the rope wasn't to old to hold Reno's weight. He looped the roped once around the pole and crawled to the side to take a hold of the safety line. He secured one end of the rope to the link meant to be clipped to the belt and checked to make sure it would hold.  Only one problem remained; what was he going to anchor the other end to? After considering and ultimately discarding any idea he could think of he tied off the other end through the metal loop on his belt. It was a logical choice. The fact that the rope was also looped around the pole made it almost impossible that Reno would end up dragging him down too. Almost. The pole was pretty rusty and already looked strained by the simple weight of the wire. If Reeve couldn't counter Reno's weight (made heavier by the fact that he would be dangling freely below the lip of the building) and crashed into the pole…well then they would both be in deep shit.

He positioned himself behind the pole and made ready, feet slightly apart, body tensed, the discarded cloth wrapped around the rope, protecting his hands from the eventual burn. 

A painful grunt made him raise his eyes to the other roof in time to see the guard topple off the side with Reno's knife imbedded in his throat. A last minute idea struck Reeve and he snatched up his gun, or rather Reno's gun, aimed carefully and fired.

He saw Ryder jerk once, but couldn't tell if he'd managed to hit him or startle the man with a near miss. He didn't have much time to dwell on it. He felt the slack go out of the rope as the wire on the other side was cut. A split second later he heard the 'twang' of the wire snapping away from the pole and Reeve was practically pulled off his feet from the force of the rope jerking in his hands. The momentum of Reno's fall pulled Reeve along a small section of tarred roof before his booted beet came into contact with the base of the pole. The force of the body on the other end of the line was almost enough to dislocate both his shoulders as he strained to keep his position fixed and steady. The only consolation was that he knew Reno was still with him, he could sure as hell feel it anyway. Despite his body's desperate want to untie the rope and let go, he grit his teeth and gripped the rope tighter.

It felt like hours before he saw a gloved hand hook over the side of the roof just off to his side. Another hand quickly appeared and the force suddenly left the rope. Reno had obviously let go to haul himself up onto the roof. Reeve let go of the rope scrambled over to the side. Reno just seemed to be dangling there unmoving. Reeve reached down and grabbed one of Reno's arms to help haul him up. 

"Reno?"

Reno looked up and him and nodded to the unvoiced question. 

Aching arms pushed beyond their capacity already, Reeve managed to haul the Turk up over the side with both hands, the momentum sending them crashing back onto the solid ground of the rooftop, both breathing heavily and sore. Reno managed to push himself away from Reeve and flopped onto his back to take a few deep breaths. __

"See I told you." Reno panted.  "Piece of cake."

It was too much for Reeve. His hurting body, strained muscles, stress and finally relief. He began to laugh. 

Reno angled himself on his side and propped himself up onto his elbow, a mocking smile on his tired face. "My hero!" He beamed lifting his voice a few octaves. "C'mon, gimme a kiss."

Reeve laughed harder but managed to roll away from Reno as Reno went to lean too far over him. He got unsteadily to his feet and rolled his eyes. "Get away from me you idiot."

Reno grinned and also got to his feet. He made a quick scan of the other rooftop, perhaps wondering why they hadn't been shot at yet. It seemed as though the guards were no longer looking in their direction at all. They were standing around the roof in a loose circle looking down on an inert form lying on the roof. A woman with long dark hair was crouching near the figure.

"What the…?" Reno began.

"Holy shit." Reeve gasped. "I hit him!"

Reno's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "You hit Ryder?"

Reno didn't need to ask. It was obvious who the still form was and who definitely wasn't amongst the standing.

The woman lifted her head and looked across at Reno and Reeve. She didn't seem sad, or angry. She didn't seem anything. One of the guards saw her line of sight and lifted his gun in response. She said a few words to him and he lowered it.

"She's letting us go?" Reeve asked unbelievingly. 

The woman straightened up, touched her hand to her brow and made a slight bow.

"She knows when she's beaten." Reno answered.

Reno answered her with a sloppy salute and a wink she probably didn't see, before turning away from the scene and heading toward the stairs.

Reeve watched for a moment longer before catching up to Reno as he entered the decrepit stairwell. 

"Who was that?" Reeve asked curiously.

"That," Reno smiled, "is my Destiny."

Somehow Reeve didn't want to ask more.

***

_Notes: wow, that was LONG! This chapter was almost double what I usually do per chapter. Guess I just wanted to get the building stuff done before doing up my conclusion chapter. Yes that is correct, Chapter 12, the next chapter will be the last for A Different Kind Of Superhero. Happy? Sad? Don't care? Well some people did feel sad and have convinced me to continue somewhat. True Chapter 12 will be the last for this bit, but I will be doing a few little fics that continue this one. Actually, a couple of my friends were thinking of making a little cartoon out of this fic, the very same people that wanted me to continue writing it. What do you guys reckon about that? I would love to hear some input on that. Anyway whether it happens or not I will continue. None will be as long as this monster one and will be called Hero Episodes or ADKOS:Episodes. If you are interested look out for updates on my site or FF.NET for when they are coming out. I can only hope it'll be as liked as this one has been._

_Don't forget; Chapter 12 will be out very soon!_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All Stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Don't forget about the mailing list! _

_If you want to find out more about anything I've mentioned pls feel free to e-mail me or find me on Yahoo Messenger as anime_fearie._

_Comments, questions, flames are all welcome and appreciated. All take time and effort __J__._


	12. Chapter 12

A Different Kind Of Superhero

_By Anime Fearie_

_& Sa Makain_

Chapter 12

****

Reeve groaned as his right shoulder muscle tensed under the assault.

       "Sore." 

       Elena raised an eyebrow at him but didn't lift her hands from his back.

       "I'm the one that gets shot but you're the one that complains."

       Reeve smiled into the pillow he was laying on and shrugged slightly. "But you were the one that was treated with Cure Materia. I'm the one that can't afford medical bills or materia anymore remember."

       Elena rolled her eyes and continued kneading the muscles on his back.  "I told you I would have paid for it. You could have done some serious damage with what you did." She dug her fingers into his bare back for emphasis.

       He winced audibly. "And I told you that I'm fine. Just sore, and it would have been a waste of your money."

       Elena let that one slide. She didn't want to get into an argument with him about it.  

       For a few moments they stayed silent then; "You know what you did," Elena began, "well….you did well.  Reno might've died if it weren't for you."

       "He's resourceful." Reeve argued.  

       "He's not invincible. If it had been either Rude or me that went, things might have turned out much worse.  The line wouldn't have supported Rude for one. And I wouldn't have had the strength to pull Reno up. He owes you his life."

       Prepared for an immediate disagreement Elena was totally unprepared for the soft answer of, "I know.  But I owe mine to him as well. Worked out well I guess."

       Elena was so shocked with the honest answer she couldn't help but saying; "Except the part where you almost dislocate your shoulder."

       "Better that than having it shot." Reeve returned playfully.

       A sharp slap echoed through the room and Reeve flinched slightly.  A pink hand print started forming between Reeve's shoulder blades glowed  softly in the dim light of the bedroom.

       Reeve reached around and tapped Elena's pajama clad led, "Your supposed to be helping, not increasing the pain."

       "Remind your mouth of that." Elena grumbled.

       Reeve chuckled lightly and was about to respond when a heavy bang made him raise his head in alarm and look toward the doorway. Cait was by the doorway, eyes squeezed shut, his arms wind-milling as if trying to keep his balance after his collision with the half open door. He eventually lost the battle with gravity and fell backwards crashing to the floor in a small furry heap.  It was  a good few seconds before he stirred again, getting to his knees, eyes still firmly shut, arms out in front of him searching for any obstacles.

       "Cait?"  Reeve asked patiently. "Is there something you wanted?"

       Cait stopped reaching, but kept his eyes closed. "I was sent in to fetch you two, if you weren't busy of course.  Reno wants to have celebratory drinkies out on the balcony.

       "Again?" Elena asked unsurprised.  They had of course had five rounds of celebratory drinkies since getting back to Reno's apartment from the hospital a couple of hours ago.

       Cait nodded.

       "Cait, why are your eyes closed? Is there something wrong with them?" Reeve asked curiously.

       "Only to protect my innocent eyes against anything I would otherwise be far too young to bear witness too." 

       "What?"

       "In case you two were fucking or something as equally private when I walked in." Cait rectified. "Reno told me that because I was the only one incapable of having nightmares I was the safest one to fetch you."

       Elena giggled and Reeve went red.

"We weren't." Reeve informed him. "And tell Reno…"

"We'll be out in a few minutes." Elena interrupted.

Cait opened one eye as if unsure if Reeve was telling him the truth. "Do you need me for anything for a while Reeve? I was going to drain my batteries."

"Go ahead."

Cait ambled out of the room and back down the hallway.

Elena moved off him to the side allowing Reeve to roll onto his back and prop himself up onto his elbows.  "Was that like telling a six year old he could go and get drunk?"

"He is the amalgamation of two men between the ages of twenty six and thirty one. So yes, probably about the same."

"Very funny."

Reeve snagged his shirt from the end of the bed and began putting it on while Elena just sat there and watched him thoughtfully.  The look was actually a little unnerving for Reeve. Knowing that she was thinking seriously about something and not telling him what it was.

       "What?" He finally asked.

       "You did well. Last night I mean, at Ryder's. You did well."

       "Thanks." He said a little confused.  He'd thought Elena had already told him that.

       "I mean all that worrying you were doing.  You thought you could never do anything like that.  I'm not saying that what we did is ultimately something to be overtly proud of. But you did what you didn't think you could do.  And that last thing, when you ran in there to save Reno, you did it selflessly.  You should be proud of yourself." Elena finished looking him in the eye and taking his hand. "I mean do you still think you are a worthless desk jockey with the spine of your average earthworm?"

       Reeve gave Elena a rueful smile and squeezed her hand.  "I guess not. Maybe more perhaps and earthworm with teeth."

       "Grrr." Elena grumbled getting to her feet and releasing his hand. "You're impossible!"

       Reeve chuckled at his own joke, stood and pulled her into his arms.  "Ah but you like me anyway."

       "At the very least." She returned wrapping her arms behind his neck. "You're an impossibly self-conscious man with no real knowledge of his own self worth.  But I know the truth.  I'll miss you when you go back you know."

"Glad to hear it.  I'm not Turk material Elena.  And I meant what I said when I told you guys that I never intended for Cait become some kind of weapon. In Icicle Village he has little chance of ending up in more fights than necessary. I have my job there, and I have friends there." He ran a hand through her hair by the side of her face, "I did tell Reno that if he ever needs backup, he can depend of me and Cait. But nothing permanent" Here he paused, as if unsure whether to continue.  Unless of course…"

"It's good." Elena said quickly, if a little uncomfortably.  "I mean you going back. You have your work and everything."

"My job only runs three seasons out of the year.  I intended to come here during those breaks. I'd be happy to have you visit any holidays you may have.  I won't be a stranger.  There's a lot still to do at home. Regarding Gast's work. I've only just begun to scratch the surface. I also need to run extra tests on the Mog. That battery drain has me worried. I want to make sure that nobody messed with it. Especially since Cait has been talking about taking it with him the next time he goes to visit Yuffie." 

Even Elena had to smile at that one. "I know.  It'll be good to see you on those breaks though."

Reeve offered her a weak smile. "Too much more time you'd probably get sick of me anyway."

Elena went into an immediate denial before stopping and smiling evilly. "Probably."

Reeve raised an amused eyebrow at her and pulled her in a little closer. "I'm  here for a few more weeks though. I guess you'll just have to cope with my presence till then."

"I guess." Elena sighed melodramatically. "I think I'll learn to get by." 

She pulled him closer, her hand sliding up the back of his neck and pulling him down for a short but satisfying kiss. She smiled up at him before breaking out of his embrace and going to the door.

***

They found the rest of the gang out on the balcony enjoying the cool night air.  Elena felt the chill breeze touch her face waking her senses a little. She hadn't realized she was so tired.  Then again, it was about this time last night that they had loaded up the truck to make the drive over to Ryder's headquarters.  She and the others had been awake for over 24hrs, and it had been a grueling 24hrs at that. No wonder she felt so weary.

She was rather miffed to discover that neither of her co-workers seemed to suffer from the same affliction.  Rude was sitting in a metal garden chair, feet on the railing, a bottle of beer in hand. He had ditched his suit for jeans and a t-shirt a couple of hours ago. But that and the beer gave the only impression that the Turk was actually winding down at all.

Reno, however, was still in his full body suit and showed no inclination to rid himself of it anytime soon.  It had something to do with tradition as far as Reno was concerned. Not even a change of clothes or a shower took precedence over celebrating after a mission.  She had heard off Rude that once, Reno had walked into a bar in sector six, his uniform covered in blood from a gunshot wound he had received in his side. He had walked up to the bar, ordered a beer. Stood there, chugged the entire bottle, replaced the bottle carefully on the bar, paid, then passed out from loss of blood at the foot of the bar just as Tseng had burst in demanding Reno to go to the hospital.

She had never doubted a single word of it.

Presently, he sat reclined almost to the point of laying on a banana lounger, bottle in one hand, twirling one of his new guns around a finger on the other hand.

       Balanced across his legs was Cait  His eyes only half open watching a peanut that Reno had dropped on the lounger beside him with a scathing look that Elena couldn't decipher.

       The Mog sat, turned on, behind the other chair that Reno was using as a table.  The vacant eyes staring blankly over the railing of the balcony. As usual, it was doing nothing exciting.

       Reeve crossed to the railing and sat on the cold concrete with his back to the rail, a central spot to where the others were positioned. Elena sat in front of him and reclined back to rest her back against his chest, his arms going around her and holding her. He did have to lift one hand up though to catch a beer bottle thrown in their direction before it had a chance to hit Elena's head.  

       "Nice reflexes." Reno commended.

       He threw a second one to Elena who caught it casually and twisted off the cap.

       "Didn't think you two were going to see the light of day for the next few weeks. Glad you could make it."

       Reno was slightly intoxicated.

       "Rude here was just about to leave us, so I thought I'd make a toast." Reno announced sitting up further in his chair, the motion causing Cait to slide off his legs and land on his back in the soft cushions below him. Feet in the air, Cait didn't bother moving only muttering something about armies of peanuts and their alliance to the evil pretzels.

       All the others diligently lifted their drinks in preparation to the toast. "A toast to Ryder and the first truly decent thing he has ever done in his life. Dying."

       Reno took a great guzzle from his bottle but stopped seeing the others giving him an odd look.  "What?"

       "Can't you do better than that?" Elena asked.

       "A bit distasteful for a toast." Reeve added.

       "Besides I get the feeling that that whole thing isn't truly finished.  I mean that daughter of his will take over now and we'll probably have to deal with her instead."

       "And that isn't worth celebrating?" Reno grinned and threw a wink at Elena who promptly rolled her eyes.

       "How about none of us dying?" Reeve suggested instead.

       "How about Cait's first successful raid?" Elena argued.

       Cait seemed to perk up at the mention of his name. He hooked one claw over Reno's leg and dragged himself up into a sitting position.

       "His wasn't the only first." Rude reminded.

       "New alliances then?" Elena tried.

       Reno put down his gun and ran a hand over his eyes.  "You all suck. Why not start quoting 'the moral of the story' or something just as lame?"

       Cait cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Moral of the story? Does this have anything to do with kicking penguins in the groin?" 

       Reeve and Elena laughed while Rude went as far as to look slightly amused.

"There's a moral to every story Cait."  Reno told him sagely. "Everybody learns something.  I learnt that doing things for other people have their own reward." He said hefting his new found favorite weapon.

"Two wrongs make a right?" Rude offered.

"Good enough."  Reno replied.

"I understand that you should never underestimate the enemy."  Reeve said seriously.

"How very Reeve of you."

"I understand what the no pants thing finally meant."  Elena put in innocently. Luckily nobody seemed to be paying a lot of attention.

Cait finally had an input after only a moment's thought. "Everything happens for a reason."

"How did you come up with that?"  Reeve asked curiously.

"Look of all the good things that came about because of a couple of stupid pricks decided to trash you lab."

"Wait." Reno interrupted as he finally digested what Elena had said. "Gods that's just gross."

Ignoring him, Cait continued.  "I mean look at us.  After what we helped stop, we're heroes! Superheroes even!"

"Hardly."  Rude commented.

"Well," Cait conceded, "Perhaps a different kind than the usual, but they all suck anyway. The usual kind I mean."

Reeve laughed, "Oh yes?  And why is that?"

"Elena, you really put me off my food for a week you know that right?"  Again, Reno was ignored.

"Because,"  Cait replied drawing himself up to his full height, puffing out his small chest and flashing them the toothiest grin and a roguish wink, "Nobody is me, and I rule!"

"Oh that's it." Rude muttered getting to his feet. "I'm going home."

"And I'm going to drown Elena." Reno announced also getting to his feet and spilling Cait off the lounger. He made a grab for Elena who squealed and scrambled away.  Getting to her feet she rushed past Rude and back inside, a thoroughly disgusted Reno hot on her tail.

Cait ambled over to Reeve and promptly curled up in his lap. 

"Night Reeve. Cait." Rude said making for the sliding door.

"Night." Reeve echoed.

"Umpf." Cait replied.

From inside the apartment the sounds of yelling and slamming doors could be heard.  Reeve imagined that not even children could make so much noise.  He stroked Cait absently and leant his head back.  Over the railing of the balcony he could make out the tiny stars in the sky, their number greatly muffled by Junon's own lights and layers of smog.  It was still pretty.

He liked it in Junon, he really did.  But there was still work for him back at Icicle Village. And besides he wasn't sure if he should stay here. If Elena's hasty answer about him going back was any indication, he may not be totally welcome.  

He sighed and looked down at the fury being resting in his lap.

_I'm not quite sure a city like Junon is ready for Cait either._

His thoughts were interrupted by a breathless figure staggering back out onto the balcony and plopping down onto the cement beside him.

"Quick little minx." Reno stated before grabbing his forgotten bottle off the table and taking a thirsty swig. "She's barricaded herself in the guest room."

"Can you blame her for running?" Reeve asked amused. Actually he didn't fully understand what the comment was about, but the situation was amusing none-the-less.

"You're a buddy Reeve. But there are certain things about you that I don't need to know."

"Oh-kay."

"Oh by the way, did you think about the offer I gave you?"  Reno asked leaning back against the side of the lounger.

"About the job? Yeah. I don't think I'll take it. But I meant what I said before.  Me and Cait will help out when needs be."

Reno looked at him in genuine surprise.  "You sure? I would have thought you would want to stay. We could use you, you know."

"Appreciated," Reeve thanked, sincerely touched that such a statement could come from his usually flippant friend.  "But I have things I must do. I have a job. And I don't want to be forcing my company on anyone."

Reno accepted the answer under no delusions that Reeve was talking about either him or Rude when saying 'anyone'.

"Suit yourself.  But I probably will call on you occasionally. In other words, for anything especially dangerous and nasty." Reno finished grinning evilly.

"Gee thanks." Reeve muttered sarcastically.

He lifted the boneless body from his lap and handed him to Reno before getting to his feet.

"I better go set up the computer for Cait. He looks pretty out of it."

"Am not." Cait argued trying to sit up in Reno's arms.

Reeve ignored him and went inside.

Reno set Cait down onto unsteady legs in front of him. The little cat fumbled around for a while before ambling over toward his mog. Once there he reclined back against the mog's big stuffed belly and stretched.

"Am not." He repeated sleepily, his eyes closing.

"Where's Reeve?" Elena asked poking her head out onto the balcony.  

Reno turned his attention back from Cait and motioned vaguely toward the inside of the apartment. "Setting up Cait's stuff. Did you know he was going back to the Village?"

"Yeah, he told me." Elena said a little reluctantly.

Reno looked at his fellow Turk closely for a few seconds.  "You don't want him to go." He guessed correctly.

"No." She admitted. 

"Then tell him."

Elena scowled down at Reno. "It isn't that simple! He mentioned going back and I told him it was a good idea. I don't want to trap him here."

"Yes you do." Reno said simply.

"And I don't want to act all the clingy woman and beg him to stay." She added.

"But you are."

Elena threw up her hands in disgust. "You men think everything is so simplistic!"

"Well, it is."

"Arrrr." Elena grumbled, frustrated. "I'm going to bed."

With that Elena turned and stormed back off into the apartment. 

"Night El." Reno said a little belatedly.

A few moments passed in silence, Reno finishing off his beer and the faint humming of Cait's mog, the only thing to be heard.

"She's such a ditz." Reno concluded out loud, hauling himself to his feet. Despite his want to celebrate more, his body was telling him that sleep was much more needed right now.  He felt he could sleep for days undisturbed.

"Reno?" Came a sleepy voice from the direction of the ground by the mog.

"Mmmm?"

"You'll come visit won't you? After Reeve takes me back to the Village. You'll come see me right?"

"Course Cait." Reno assured heading for the door. 

"Things turned out well didn't they? I like Junon. But I wanna go home. Its well...my home.  I wanna wander in the woods, smell the bakery and play kickball with Kasey and I wont ever get bored of it." He said wistfully, half asleep.

The only answer Cait got was the sound of the sliding door closing.  Reno had already gone back inside. Cait rolled over onto his side, still cuddled up against the mog. 

"Oh well.  At least you know what I mean Mog."

Unbeknownst to the inattentive Cait, Mog smiled in agreement.

fini….

….for now.

****

_End Notes: Wow huh? Did AF actually finish something? The answer is a resounding….maybe._

_       This was actually my second attempt to finish this fic, and even now I'm not all that happy with how it turned out.  I wanted something great and beautiful to finish my beloved fic with, but the problem with trying too hard is that it never works out.  Try too hard and it sounds like crap, just be yourself and it's better than art.  At least, so I have been told.  _

_       I've left a few things hanging of course. Elena and Reeve, Reno and Destiny, Ryder's little group, and possibly /the/ most intriguing, the Mog. Hmmm, and do I have plans for that._

_       Neway, I loved writing this series soooo much. I just hope that a few of you loved reading it just as much. The funny and original story was great to write, but it was all the fabulous comments and suggestions that keep me confident. And now I will stop kissing your asses and tell you what is now going on…_

_       ADKOS Episodes are definitely going to be written.  The first of which will be titled "Baby's First Birthday." *shrugs* well you can see where that is going. I have plotted maybe five little episodes, all not as long as this fic turned out, but I will be taking little breaks between each one of them.  I will even have a little break before starting  the first one I mentioned. Sorry, but I need time to finish up a few other things in Temporary Insanity and Monsters. I will put up a preview for any interested on my site or on the mailing list. Hopefully my little break won't be for too long though and I can get back into it fairly quickly.  *Sniff* I miss this fic already._

_       So look out for "ADKOS Episode I: Baby's First Birthday" coming soon to Neo Midgar and FF.NET_

_       As subtle as Bahamut's Breath_

_       Wetter than Leviathan's Inner Ear_

_       AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Tell them AF sent you!_


	13. Episode One;Preview

**A Different Kind Of Superhero;**

Episode I

Baby's First Birthday

_By AF_

**Part One. (Preview Only).**

_*_

_"Ever feel like you're being watched?" _

_~ Cait Sith._

_*_

Cait sat on the table with his head held high and as much dignity as he could muster.  It wasn't working though.  He still felt like an idiot in a pretty pink ribbon.  Literally.  Upon the arrival of the guests, one of them decided that the birthday boy didn't look festive enough for the occasion and had promptly taken a pink ribbon from the wrapping of one of the gifts and tied it neatly around his neck.

            _She should have made a noose out of it instead._

            It was only unfortunate that because of her status as Reeve's girlfriend, she was a no go for verbal abuse.  Instead he had to direct such abuse at Reno who had constantly sniggered from the moment the ribbon had touched Cait's neck.  It helped, telling Reno off, but it wasn't the same when the person you were abusing wasn't at all upset by anything Cait said.

            Elena passed the table Cait was sitting on a went to offer him a pat. Tired of being treated like a pet, Cait ducked the pat and flattened his ears on his head.

            "Touch me again wench," he growled, "and you'll be picking a pink silk ribbon out of your right nostril for the next few weeks."

            "Cait!" Reeve berated from halfway across the yard, "Watch your mouth."

            Of course he had expected the retort, and he was truly sorry for upsetting Reeve, but this had gone on long enough. It was /his/ birthday after all, and he had never gotten in trouble for swearing on any other occasion. In fact his last sentence had been rather tame in comparison to what he was capable of.

            "Why?"

            It was then that Reeve pointed to the girl sitting at the table beside Cait, her big brown eyes wide and focused on Cait.

            Cait winced and looked at Kasey.  "Pretend I didn't say that."

Since Reeve had informed Cait a couple of weeks ago that it had almost been a year since Cait said his first individual free thinking word, he had immediately dubbed the upcoming anniversary 'Cait's Birthday.'  And since it was his birthday, he deserved a birthday party.  Cait had immediately fallen in love with the idea of this special day and had asked what was involved.  

"Well," Reeve had answered, "You get a cake, guests come over, and of course you get presents. And naturally your age increases by a year."

"How old does that make me then?" Cait had asked curiously.

"Technically  probably only a few years younger than Reno. But that was another model of course, the first one being lost at the Temple of the Ancients.  Your current body is probably a few years old. But you and what makes you you, will be one years old in a couple of weeks."

Cait wasn't much impressed with the idea of the cake.  He sure couldn't eat any of it.  The last two factors intrigued him though.  Sure Reeve gave him lots of presents anyway, but most of it was purely upgrades for his artificial body.  The concept of receiving things that were meant only for his own personal enjoyment was definitely something he had looked forward to.

The next point was inviting guests.  All in all, the only real friends that Cait had were the Turks and he had assumed that they would be coming anyway.  He knew Reeve's friend's in Icicle Village of course and he supposed he could invite them.  But the only friend of his own in the Village was an eight year old girl by the name of Kasey.  Reeve had allowed Cait to ask Kasey to come only after she got expressed permission off her parents and that Cait had to walk her home before dark. Pleased at the idea of having his very own friend coming along, Cait had readily agreed.

They had set up a few tables borrowed off various neighbors of Reeve's and put them in a cleared space out the back of Reeve's house.  Streamers of different colors were tied up across the yard from the eaves of Reeve's house to the trees around them. A barbeque had been borrowed from the Inn and set up over in the far corner of the clearing.  

Reno was currently manning it in a slightly tipsy state.  Not the greatest idea.  He burnt most of the food and had managed to set the grill on fire at least twice during the course of the day.  But he was adamant to stay put.  He had even bought his own cook's apron emblazoned with the message, "Kiss me or I'll shoot you." A joke that Reeve had explained was taken from another famous quote written on most normal, comical cook's apron's. Still it was better, and much more 'G' rated than the white t-shirt he had on underneath that proclaimed rather proudly; "No that's not a gun in my pocket." Despite Reeve's want to not draw attention to the fact that his friends were Turks (not to mention crude) Reeve had insisted that Reno keep the apron on at least till most of his neighbors had left.

Elena had spent most of the day clinging to Reeve's arm playing the diligent girlfriend and mingling.  She wore a smile, but all that knew her could tell she was doing this purely for Reeve's benefit and no doubt would rather be off scaling ropes and shooting at enemies.  Or at the very least clinging to him rather differently in a more secluded area.

Rude on the other hand was warming a seat at Cait's present table and had been there for the bulk of the day.  He sat there quietly drinking from the conveniently placed cooler beside him and ignoring the admiring looks he and his sleeveless black t-shirt were receiving off various oppressed housewives and teenage daughters.  Instead he had actually managed to cultivate an interesting relationship with Reeve's workmate Cray.  Both men seemed content at their table with their alcohol supply and occasional conversation which usually consisted of a nod and grunt.

Cait had only decided to come and sit with the two wholly boring men when needing some time to sulk about his new pink accessory.  Before he had been quite happy to mingle with all the new and known alike.  Showing himself off, getting more presents and generally being the center of attention.  

While snow still lay over most of the yard and surrounding area, the day was not unpleasant being so near Spring.  Warm sun lit the grounds and broke up the gray clouds overhead. The air was pleasant with only a few traces of the waning winter chill.  As such at least half of the Village seemed to have passed through the yard at one point or another during the day, invitation or not. The other half (the half that still believed that Reeve was some insane scientist bent on taking over the world) peeked out from behind drawn curtains, scowling at those who would be a part of such evil doings.

Cait was no longer bothered by such rumors anymore.  He had been wandering in and around the town freely for the better part of a year.  Most people seemed comfortable with him by now, and thoroughly sure that Cait was not some scientifically created monster bought forth to eat their children.  He was a cute little novelty that wandered around while Reeve was at work with a toothy grin and polite (most of the time) greeting to any that crossed his path. Often off on errands for Reeve, or exploring just for the sake of it.  He even had a few people around town that often tried to feed him pieces of steak or the like whenever he passed by their houses.  Of course he politely took the proffered items, but he usually spat it out around the corner or took it home to Reeve.

Most cats left their owners dead mice or birds at their doors. A kind of a cat nice, 'look what I did, aren't I clever?' gesture.  Reeve must have been to only one in town that woke up to find pieces of raw prime beef steaks studded with licorice on his doorstop. 

"Did you like your present Cait?" Kasey asked covering up the awkward moment.

Cait looked down at the small yellow blanket he was sitting on.  His present from Kasey.  Pale yellow, it felt as soft as the fine fur on his ears and had pictures of little lambs eating grass printed on it.  Not Cait's taste in style, but it was very comfortable and he could tell that Kasey thought a lot of the gift.  So far  today he had discarded his usual little cape and had tied the blanket around his neck in the same fashion. It was small enough not to quite touch the ground and had caused Kasey to giggle when he had first put it on.

"Soft." He answered appreciatively. "I'll put it up where I sleep."

He got up and wandered over to Rude. "And when I'm not using it to sleep on, it would make a perfect thing to buff Rude's head with."

He demonstrated this by picking up the tail of the blanket and reaching up to rub Rude's bald head with it.

"Oooooo shiny." Cait said.

Kasey giggled again. Rude took another sip of his beer and made a good show of ignoring the black and white cat currently buffing his head with a blanket covered in fluffy white lambs.

Cray grinned and grunted in amusement.

***

_Notes: Well, this was a mere preview guys. The full part one should be out very shortly under its own heading; _**ADKOS Episode One: Baby's First Birthday. **_Episodes will run for anything between three to eight chapters long  There will be maybe five episodes in all. The new episodes, (if you are reading this off site) will be under it's own heading. Look out for it, it will be a short time coming from now. A very special thankyou to all of you who have been asking about it, I love to hear that people have been waiting for the continuation. _

_            Feedback is my friend, it makes me happy_

_            AF_

anime_fearie@excite.com

Now for a touch of senseless self promotion mwahahahahahaha…

Other AF Stories currently running;

**"Monsters That Keep Me Awake"** Part One (completed), Part Two (completed),      Interludes; "A Little Boy Called Dale" (completed), "I Dreamed Of You" (completed). Part Three (running).

**"Do What You Will" **(running)

**"I Must Be Insane" **(running)

**"Temporary Insanity" **(running)

**"A Different Kind Of Superhero" **(completed), Episode One (running).


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